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prisonbrief

Free plan LinuxMacWindows

What prisonbrief is

prisonbrief is a free, open-source R package that downloads, cleans, and returns World Prison Brief data for statistical analysis. It runs as desktop software on Linux, macOS, and Windows and supports scripting. The wpb_list() function prints available countries, while wpb_table() returns prison-system variables for the world, a region, or a country and includes geometric shapes for mapping. Documented regions include Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Oceania, South America, and All. The wpb_series() function downloads and tidies prison-population totals and rate trends over time for project jurisdictions. The underlying data are described as covering 223 jurisdictions from public sources. Regional tables are prepared for automated analysis, but country-level tables may need more cleaning before quantitative work. The stable package is available on CRAN, with development installation documented through GitHub. It depends on R and spatial-data packages for simple-features dataframes; Linux installation may require libudunits2-dev. MIT licensing permits use, copying, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and selling under its conditions.

Who it suits

prisonbrief suits R users and analysts working with World Prison Brief prison-population data. It is useful for scripted regional, country, and time-series analysis, including mapping.

What it does well

Free MIT-licensed open-source package
Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows
Provides country, regional, and world tables
Includes prison population time series
Supplies geometric shapes for maps

What to know first

Country-level tables may need additional cleaning
Requires R and spatial-data packages
Linux may require libudunits2-dev
No paid plans are listed

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
prisonbrief	MIT licensed R package · no paid plans listed	Free

As danilofreire.github.io lists them, read 5 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Verdict

prisonbrief provides scripted access to World Prison Brief tables, trends, and map shapes across desktop operating systems. Analysts should account for extra cleaning required by some country-level data.

Facts from prisonbrief's own pages

Authors: The package was written by Danilo Freire and Robert Myles McDonnell. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Country list: The wpb_list() function prints the available countries to the console. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Data coverage: The World Prison Brief data are described as covering 223 jurisdictions and coming from public sources. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Data limitation: Country-level table data may need further cleaning before quantitative analysis, while regional data are prepared for automated analysis. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Data source: The World Prison Brief is described as an online database compiled by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Deployment: desktop · danilofreire.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
Install: The stable package is available on CRAN via install.packages("prisonbrief"), with development installation documented through GitHub. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
License: The software is distributed under the MIT License, which grants permission to use, copy, modify, publish, distribute, sublicense, and sell copies subject to its conditions. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Mapping: wpb_table() provides geometric shapes for maps. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Prison tables: wpb_table() returns prison system variables for the world, a region, or a country. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Purpose: prisonbrief downloads, cleans, and returns data from the World Prison Brief for statistical analysis. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Regions: Documented region choices include Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, South America, and All. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Requirements: The package depends on R and uses spatial-data packages to return simple features dataframes; Linux installation may require libudunits2-dev. · github.com, 5 Oct 2026
Scripting support: Yes · danilofreire.github.io, 23 Sept 2026
Support: The project welcomes feedback and suggestions through GitHub issues. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026
Time series: wpb_series() downloads and tidies prison population total and rate trends for jurisdictions in the project. · danilofreire.github.io, 5 Oct 2026

Where prisonbrief stands on Freedom251

Statistical Analysis Software#44 of 106