Morocco’s prison population exceeded 97,000 in 2022, marking a 10% increase from the year before and setting a new record for the country’s prisons, according to the latest annual report from Morocco’s General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR).
The DGAPR expects that the number of prisoners will exceed 100,000 by 2025, as the number of detainees continues to grow at a quick pace.
The number means that Morocco now has 251 prisoners per 100,000 people, with almost half of all inmates being younger than 30 years old.
Of the nearly 117,000 new inmates that entered prison in 2022, 96% were men. Women, the elderly, and children make up only 2% of the prison population.
The number of prisoners who are in jail to serve a final sentence reached over 57,000, making up 59% of the country’s prison population.
The most prominent crime that got detainees behind bars during this period were violations of private law, with financial law violations being a close second.
The increase in the number of prisoners will pose new challenges for the DGAPR, as the agency continues to reckon with an overcrowding problem that has plagued Moroccan prisons for years.
The Moroccan prison system has been under scrutiny from local and international NGOs and activists over recent years for its overcrowding, which places pressure on staff and inmates and can lead to increased risk for both and a lesser quality of service.
Authorities have recently pointed to programs that will help make detention circumstances more humane, as well as building more facilities to be able to manage overcrowding.
Despite that, the increase continues to be worrying as it seems to be outpacing the efforts to combat it.
“This is a rate [of increase] that prompts worry for the direct implications it has on the General Delegation’s ability to execute its security and reform programs, in light of the limited nature of monetary resources,” DGAPR General Delegate Mohamed Salah Tamek said in the report.
