One in ten Swiss offenders held in non-prison facilities

© Keystone / Gaetan Bally

In Switzerland 9.1% of convicts have been placed in a private facility, such as a psychiatric clinic, residential home or special care facility.

Not all offenders in Switzerland serve their sentences in prison. At the end of March 2022, of the 6,945 people sentenced to serve time, 633 were in a non-penitentiary institution. These placements are justified for medical reasons, such as psychological illnesses or special care required by elderly prisoners. These non-prison facilities are also used in some cases to prepare for conditional release.

The figures were released for the first time on Thursday by the Swiss Centre of Competence in the Execution of Penal SanctionsExternal link as part of an initiative on monitoring the deprivation of liberty. This segment of the incarcerated population had so far been omitted from official statistics.

The majority suffer from serious mental disorders with 498 held at a non-prison institution compared to 340 in prison for the same reason. Addiction is also one of the reasons for keeping them in such private facilities: 91 people were in a clinic or treatment centre compared to 37 in prison.