This is the third month in a row that the number of detainees is on the rise in prisons in France. The overall prison density is 120% compared to 117.1% a year ago and 118.7% on March 1.
The number of detainees in French prisons has reached a new historic record with 73,080 people incarcerated on April 1, according to data from the Ministry of Justice published on Friday.
This is the third month in a row that the number of detainees is on the rise in French prisons which suffer from chronic prison overcrowding. The previous peak, in December 2022, was 72,836 detainees. Their number fell slightly in January before rising again in February.
French prisons had 60,899 operational places on April 1. With 73,080 detainees, the overall prison density is 120% against 117.1% a year ago and 118.7% on March 1.
“A situation that keeps getting worse”
Contacted by AFP, Prune Missoffe, an official at the International Observatory of Prisons (OIP), deplored a “situation which continues to worsen, month after month”, despite the alerts on the “dramatic conditions of overcrowding”. in French prisons.
The OIP asks the authorities to “take urgent measures to reduce prison pressure, pending more structural measures”.
This chronic evil of French prisons had earned France a conviction before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in January 2020.
The construction of new places late
The government wants to build 15,000 additional prison places by the end of the five-year term. But if the implementation of this plan is progressing, it “is lagging significantly behind”, underlined the Court of Auditors in its annual report published in April.
“The 7000 places which were to be delivered before the end of 2022 have not been built in full”, thus noted the Court of Auditors.
In 2023, ten new establishments currently nearing completion, representing 1,958 places, should be delivered. A total of 24 establishments, i.e. half of the initial forecast, should be operational in 2024.
