74,918 under-trial prisoners represented 73.41% of Pakistan's prison population in 2024.
Source
NCHR — https://nchr.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Prison-Data-Report-2024_NCHR-x-NAPA-x-JPP.pdf. Verified in source set / retroactive normalization pending.
What it proves
Prison crisis is substantially a criminal-justice process problem, not simply a crime problem.
What it does not prove: The under-trial share is a ratio of two moving quantities — it can climb because trials conclude more slowly or convictions fall, not only because more people are detained — and a single-year headcount reveals nothing about how long any individual has waited. It is a process indicator about detention pending trial, so it says nothing about guilt, and nothing about the crime rate.
Memory hook: 73.41% → nearly three in four prisoners are unconvicted, not serving sentences
Rebuts the claim: "Pakistan's prisons are overcrowded because the country has too much crime" — most inmates have not been convicted of anything; the bottleneck is trial delay and bail practice.