The number of prison cells in Germany is reportedly declining to a new low. As inmate populations continue to rise, the German correctional system is heading toward a historical capacity bottleneck.
According to an analysis by the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung,” there are currently fewer prison beds available in German institutions than there have been in the past seven years. Nationwide, 1,755 prison places have been decommissioned since 2019, leaving only 70,027 places available, the NOZ reports, referencing data from the state justice ministries. Despite this reduction, the number of inmates is continuously rising, with the average occupancy reaching over 60,000 detainees in 2025.
The trend is particularly dramatic in the federal capital. Berlin has lost nearly ten percent of its capacity in recent years-more than any other federal state. The Berlin justice administration rejected a political implication regarding this decline, explaining to the NOZ that the reduction of prison spaces was not an intentional policy decision. Instead, they attributed the decrease to necessary construction and renovation work at the facilities. Besides Berlin, both Bavaria and Hesse have recorded significant capacity losses within the correctional services.
