The latest Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics report, published today, reveals that in 2014 Portugal had the ninth most crowded prison system in Europe, with the second highest average time spent behind bars at 27.9 months, beaten only by Moldova at 29.2 months.
The average time a prisoner spends in prison in Europe is nine months, with jail time in Portugal running at three times this figure.
In 2014, there were 111 prisoners for 100 places in Portuguese prisons, slightly better than the previous year when overcrowding was running at 117%.
The report does show that overcrowding in prisons is decreasing, albeit at a slow pace, across Europe with density declining from 99 prisoners per 100 places in 2011 to 94% in 2014.
Also, the total prison population fell by 7% in 2014, with 124 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 134 the previous year.
All in all the European prisons are running close to full capacity with a population of 1.6 million.
Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe recalls that "overcrowding hinders the rehabilitation of prisoners" and could undermine their human rights.
Jagland commented that the most enlightened countries do everything to eradicate overcrowding by applying alternative measures of detention.
