The excessive and arbitrary use of pretrial detention critically undermines socioeconomic development - and is especially harmful to the poor.

Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are not aberrations. Of the nearly ten million people in detention (including both pretrial and post-conviction detainees) around the world, those held in pretrial detention are most at risk of torture.

Around the world millions of people are locked up in pretrial detention because of corruption. Despite the prohibition of corruption under international law - as enshrined in the UN Convention against Corruption and other treaties and laws - criminal justice systems are often warped by bribery and other forms of corruption.

The excessive use of pretrial detention leads to overcrowded, unhygienic, chaotic, and violent environments where pretrial detainees - who have not been convicted - are at risk of contracting disease. The global overuse of pretrial detention is not just a human rights problem, but also a looming public health crisis.