Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned about the steadily increasing number of inmates in French prisons and the inhumane conditions in which they are held. French prisons are now more overcrowded than ever, with up to four people being held in single cells as the number of inmates continues to rise.
The European Court of Human Rights in 2020 condemned chronic prison overcrowding in France and ruled that conditions, inhuman and degrading treatment in French prisons is violating the European Convention on Human Rights. Since then, the situation has only continued to get worse every year.
According to the Ministry of Justice last month, 80,130 prisoners were housed in facilities designed to hold 62,357 people, and in many of them the number of inmates was twice the official capacity. The situation is particularly dire in remand prisons, where 21,000 people are awaiting trial in facilities that are 155% overcrowded. The appalling conditions of detention and overcrowding also affected the wardens. Hired to supervise 50 prisoners, they end up looking after 120 or even 150 prisoners in some detention centers. This inevitably increases tensions and fosters a culture of violence.
Jean-Claude Mas, president of the International Prison Monitoring Center, commented on this inhumane condition:
“Some 4,000 prisoners are forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor. This means that three or four people can be crammed into 9m² cells designed for one person. This overcrowding accentuates the dilapidation and filth associated with prisons.”
In 2017, shortly after coming to power, President Emmanuel Macron promised to provide the extra prison capacity within a decade. However, on November 10, 2024, Justice Minister Didier Migaud admitted that the plan to build 15,000 additional prison places by 2027 would not be met on time. At the same time, in an attempt to reduce the prison population, more community service orders have been issued and judges have been told to stop giving sentences of less than one month.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice condemn the inhumane treatment of prisoners by the French authorities and call on the French government to develop and implement a series of measures to reduce the number of inmates in prisons and to bring imprisonment conditions up to an appropriate level in line with international standards.