Corrections
Are the people in prison all serving sentences?
No — and in one measured system, most of those in provincial custody were not. Remand is detention before conviction or sentence, which makes it a different thing from punishment despite looking identical from inside.
In short
Remand detention is being held in custody before the case is over — before conviction, or after conviction but before sentence. The person has not been sentenced to anything. It is ordered for reasons connected with the proceedings rather than as a consequence of them, and it ends when the case does, either by release or by the beginning of a sentence.
Why it exists
AnalysisA system that could never detain before trial would have to accept that some proceedings will not be completed. A system that detained everyone before trial would be punishing people it has not convicted. Remand is the compromise, and it is uncomfortable in a way that neither of the alternatives it replaces would be less so.
How it works
Remand is a significant share of custody where it has been measured, and in at least one measured system it was the larger share. Statistics Canada records that in fiscal year 2023/2024 the average daily count of adults in provincial and territorial custody in Canada was 25,349.8, of which 19,334.5 were held on remand and 5,895.1 were serving a sentence.
AnalysisThe counting point generalises even though the number does not. Any figure described as a prison population is answering a question about who is included, and remand is the category most often assumed away. A population that mixes sentenced and unsentenced people is not a measure of how many people a system has punished, and treating it as one produces a claim the data does not support.
Conditions are a separate question from status. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners proceed on the basis that people in detention retain rights other than those necessarily restricted by lawful detention, and the requirement of inspection by a body independent of the prison administration applies to places of detention as such.
Common misconceptions
Widely held beliefs that do not match how the system actually operates.
Common belief: People in prison have been convicted of something.
In practice: Not all of them. In Canadian provincial and territorial custody, the average daily count for fiscal 2023/2024 recorded more people on remand than serving a sentence. Remand means the case is not over.
Common belief: Remand is a short administrative step before trial.
In practice: Its length depends on how long proceedings take, which is not fixed. That is why time limits and periodic review are features of the systems that structure it.
Common belief: Remand is punishment that starts early.
In practice: It is ordered for reasons connected with the proceedings, not as a consequence of a finding of guilt — there has been no such finding. The person is presumed innocent throughout.
Common belief: A prison population figure tells you how many people a country has sentenced.
In practice: Only if it excludes remand, and many published figures do not. What a population figure measures depends entirely on the counting definition attached to it.
How this varies between jurisdictions
A required section on every guide. Arrangements differ between countries, and we say how.
Where remand sits institutionally differs, and it changes what can be measured.
- Held in the sub-national system alongside short sentences, so a sub-national figure mixes both — Canada, where remand and sentences under two years are provincial or territorial.
- Counted inside the headline prison population, so the total is not a count of sentenced people.
- Counted separately, so sentenced and unsentenced populations can be stated independently.
Rights and accountability
AnalysisThe presumption of innocence is not suspended by remand; it is the reason remand needs justification at all. A system that could detain before trial without stating grounds would have converted the presumption into a formality that operates only at the verdict.
AnalysisAccurate counting is part of the same accountability. A figure that silently includes unconvicted people, presented as a measure of punishment, misdescribes what the system is doing in a direction that is hard to detect from the outside.
What we could not establish
- One measured figure is used, from one country, for one fiscal year, on a stated counting definition. It supports no comparison with any other country and no general claim about how common remand is.
- The grounds on which remand may be ordered, and the procedures for reviewing it, differ in every system and are not described here.
Where to go next
Related: how prison capacity is measured, the presumption of innocence, and arrest and detention.
Related topics
- Why do figures about how full prisons are disagree with each other?
Because each is built on a different counting rule, and the rule usually travels separately from the number. Four official sources are compared here — not to produce a figure, but to show what any figure of this kind is actually measuring.
- Is there one prison system in a country?
Frequently not. Custody is split by level of government, by sentence length, or by both — and where it is split, a national prison figure is an aggregation of separate systems rather than a measurement of one.
- Is being sentenced one decision, or several?
Three, and in some systems three different decision-makers. Brazil gives execution its own judge — the Juízo da Execução — which makes visible a stage most descriptions of criminal justice leave out entirely.
- What can a court do about someone being held?
More systems protect against unlawful detention than use the words "habeas corpus". Brazil names it in the constitution and makes the action free; South Africa gives the same protection without the name; France routes it through the judicial authority as guardian of individual liberty.
Where this connects
Institutions: Correctional service.
Sources
Table 35-10-0154-01 — Average counts of adults in provincial and territorial correctional programs
Statistics Canada (www150.statcan.gc.ca) · Government publication · 2025 · link verified 2026-07-26
The official Statistics Canada data cube (English; French equally authoritative), read from the primary CSV download. Supports the corrections restricted claim: for fiscal year 2023/2024, the Provinces-and-Territories average daily count of adults in custody ('actual-in') was 25,349.8 — remand 19,334.5, sentenced 5,895.1, other 120.2. These are PROVINCIAL/TERRITORIAL counts only (they EXCLUDE federal custody, i.e. sentences of two years or more administered by Correctional Service Canada) and are average daily counts over the fiscal year, not a single-day snapshot. Supports no federal figure and no cross-country comparison.
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules)
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime · International organisation · 2015 · link verified 2026-07-23
Supports the internationally agreed minimum standards for the treatment of people in detention, including the requirement of independent inspection of prisons. Standards, not a description of conditions in any particular prison system. WAVE 17 ADDITION, read from the primary UNODC PDF, text-extracted locally. Supports Rule 83(1): "There shall be a twofold system for regular inspections of prisons and penal services: (a) Internal or administrative inspections conducted by the central prison administration; (b) External inspections conducted by a body independent of the prison administration, which may include competent international or regional bodies"; and Rule 83(2): that in both cases the objective is to ensure prisons are managed in accordance with existing laws, regulations, policies and procedures, with a view to bringing about the objectives of penal and corrections services, and that the rights of prisoners are protected. Supports Rule 84(1): inspectors shall have authority to access all information on the numbers of prisoners and places and locations of detention and all information relevant to the treatment of prisoners including their records and conditions of detention; "to freely choose which prisons to visit, including by making unannounced visits at their own initiative, and which prisoners to interview"; to conduct private and fully confidential interviews with prisoners and prison staff; and to make recommendations to the prison administration and other competent authorities. Supports Rule 84(2): external inspection teams shall be composed of qualified and experienced inspectors appointed by a competent authority and shall encompass health-care professionals, with due regard to balanced gender representation. Supports Rule 85(1): every inspection shall be followed by a written report to the competent authority, with due consideration given to making external inspection reports publicly available excluding personal data unless the prisoner has given explicit consent; and Rule 85(2): the administration or other competent authorities shall indicate within a reasonable time whether they will implement the recommendations. Supports Rule 54: on admission every prisoner shall be promptly provided with written information about the prison law and regulations, their rights including authorized methods of seeking information and access to legal advice and procedures for making requests or complaints, their obligations including applicable disciplinary sanctions, and all other matters necessary to adapt to prison life; and Rule 55: that this information shall be available in the most commonly used languages, with interpretation assistance where the prisoner understands none of them, conveyed orally to an illiterate prisoner, and provided appropriately to prisoners with sensory disabilities. Supports Rule 56: every prisoner shall have the opportunity each day to make requests or complaints to the prison director or an authorized staff member; that it shall be possible to make them to the inspector of prisons during inspections, with the opportunity to talk to the inspector "freely and in full confidentiality, without the director or other members of the staff being present"; that every prisoner shall be allowed to make a request or complaint regarding their treatment "without censorship as to substance" to the central prison administration and to the judicial or other competent authorities including those vested with reviewing or remedial power; and that these rights extend to the prisoner's legal adviser and, failing that, to a family member or other person with knowledge of the case. Supports Rule 57: every request or complaint shall be promptly dealt with and replied to without delay, and if rejected or unduly delayed the complainant shall be entitled to bring it before a judicial or other authority; that safeguards shall ensure requests can be made safely and confidentially where requested, and that a complainant "must not be exposed to any risk of retaliation, intimidation or other negative consequences"; and that allegations of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment shall be dealt with immediately and result in a prompt and impartial investigation by an independent national authority. Supports Rule 87: that before the completion of the sentence it is desirable that the necessary steps be taken to ensure for the prisoner a gradual return to life in society.