P.E.I. is the only jurisdiction in Canada to record a decrease over the last decade in the percentage of people in custody who have not been convicted of an offence.

According to a report released this week by Statistics Canada, the number of people in the country serving sentences in jails and prisons fell last year, while the number of people on remand, imprisoned while waiting for a decision on charges against them, went up.

Taking a longer view, the report found from 2004/05 to 2014/15 the proportion of the prison population on remand rose across the country, from 51 per cent to 56 per cent.

P.E.I. was the only jurisdiction to go against this trend.

Historically, the province has a lower percentage of its jail population on remand, and in that decade it fell further, from 24 per cent in 2004/05 to 16 per cent in 2014/15.