Words by

Catharine Fulton

A record number of foreign prisoners were being held in Icelandic prisons last year, Vísir reports. There were 91 prisoners of foreign origin in Icelandic prisons in 2012, up just slightly from 89 foreign prisoners in 2011.
While the one-year increase is not particularly sharp, the increase in foreign nationals being held in prisons is staggering since the turn of the millennium. In 2000 there were just 7 foreign-born prisoners in Iceland.
Simultaneously, over the past couple of years, the number of foreigners living in Iceland has decreased. There were 20,957 foreigners living in Iceland in 2012, down from  21,143 in 2011 and 21,701 in 2010.