Armenia’s prisons have over 1,100 vacant places, officials say

Armenia’s prison system has more than 1,100 unoccupied places, according to official data provided by the country’s Criminal Executive Service, offering a snapshot of capacity and inmate distribution across the penitentiary network.

The service, which operates under the Ministry of Justice, said in response to a written inquiry from Sputnik Armenia that the country’s penitentiary institutions have a total capacity of 4,122 places, of which 1,119 are currently vacant.

“In all penitentiary institutions of the Republic of Armenia, 1,705 places are allocated for detainees and 2,417 places for convicted persons. As of April 30, 3,003 people were being held in the institutions, including 1,445 detainees and 1,558 convicted persons,” the service said.

The data indicate that Armenia’s prison population remains below the system’s overall capacity, though the authorities did not provide an official assessment of occupancy levels.

Armenia currently operates nine penitentiary institutions. Among them, the Sevan facility is the only one designated exclusively for convicted prisoners and does not hold detainees awaiting trial.

Sputnik Armenia also requested clarification from the Criminal Executive Service on whether current conditions could be classified as overcrowding and sought an evaluation of overall capacity utilisation. The agency did not respond to those questions.

By Tamilla Hasanova