Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett found Singapore had the second highest
prison population per 100,000 people among the 23 rich countries they surveyed
in their book, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies
Stronger. Only America had more prison inmates per 100,000 people.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime website has the United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, which they mentioned in their book.
And, yes, according to the surveys, Singapore does have a large prison
population compared with other countries. This chart is based on the ninth UN
survey (CTS 9), covering 2003 and 2004.
While the homicide figures from the 10th survey, covering 2005 and 2006, can
be seen on the website without registration, the 2003-2004 findings are the
latest freely available on prison inmates.
I have labelled only the countries which had more than 300 prison inmates
per 100,000 people. Bermuda and Sri Lanka had the most. Several countries,
including America, are not mentioned in this UN survey. You can download it as
a PDF document.
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