A new United Nations report has revealed that Africa has the second-highest rate of pre-trial detention in the world, with more than one-third of inmates across the continent being held without conviction or sentencing.
According to the Prison Matters 2026 report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), unsentenced detainees accounted for 34 percent of Africa’s prison population in 2024. Only Oceania recorded a higher figure at 39 percent, while the global average stood at 31 percent.
The report estimates that approximately 3.6 million people worldwide were in pre-trial detention in 2024, an increase from about 3.3 million recorded a decade earlier, despite the overall global proportion of unsentenced prisoners remaining relatively unchanged.
Within Africa, the report highlighted significant differences across regions, noting that Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of unsentenced detainees globally. It also identified Southern Asia as having the most severe situation, where nearly two-thirds of detainees remain in custody without sentencing.
The report further pointed to a gender imbalance, stating that women in Africa are more likely to be held in pre-trial detention than in many other regions. It found a 10-percentage-point gap between male and female unsentenced detention rates on the continent in 2024.
The UN warned that the excessive use of pre-trial detention weakens the principle of presumed innocence and increases the risk of coercion, particularly for individuals who cannot afford legal representation.
It also noted that people awaiting trial are often subjected to stricter prison conditions than convicted inmates, despite not having been found guilty of any offence.
The report cited Kenya as an example of efforts to address the challenge through community-based legal support, where trained prisoner paralegals help detainees secure bail reductions and accelerate case reviews.
As of 2024, Kenya had 22,438 unconvicted detainees, representing 38 percent of its total prison population of 59,013.
The findings were based on data collected through the UN Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, alongside information from the World Prison Brief and figures reviewed by UN member states.
