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France

Capital city — Paris

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Panorama

Security, order, and discipline

Security measures

Security functions are fulfilled by

  • the penitentiary administration
  • the police or gendarmerie

Some prison facilities, units or cells implement high-security measures

yes

Prisoners are classified according to their supposed level of dangerousness

yes

  • A report issued in May 2023 references 225 high-risk prisoners (DPS) among a total of 73,000 prisoners. This document was produced following a parliamentary committee established to investigate the 2022 death of Yvan Colonna in Arles prison. The report highlights that “the legal framework of the DPS registry is at the regulatory level and lacks a clear definition in legislation”. It points out numerous malfunctions and states that the DPS status “is not intended to be inherently permanent”. The report proposes 29 recommendations to reform this status, including revisiting the criteria for inclusion in the DPS registry and ensuring greater clarity in the justification for an individual’s inclusion.

    i
    30/05/2023
    / France Info

  • The designation of “high-risk prisoner” (DPS) was introduced in 1967. It serves to categorise certain prisoners based on their assumed threat level or escape risk. The decision to add, maintain, or remove prisoners from this list falls to the Minister of Justice. Consequently, specific security measures are implemented, such as assigning prisoners to cells close to guard stations, enforcing stringent monitoring both day and night, intensifying vigilance during inspection and search operations, and conducting thorough reviews of all applications to participate in prison activities. Each DPS may be given a personal directive at the facility level, introducing additional precautions (individual cell, strengthened escort during movement, regular reports, etc.). Annually, the DPS system applies to between 200 and 250 prisoners.1

    1. Report of the inquiry committee tasked with shedding light on the dysfunctions within the penitentiary administration and the judicial system that led to the murder of a prisoner on 2 March 2022 at the Arles central prison, 24 May 2023. ↩

    i
    24/05/2023
    / Assemblée nationale

The procedures for body searches are regulated. The law permits body searches, whether full or partial, when they are justified by the presumption of an offence or by a risk to the safety of other prisoners or the institution posed by an inmate’s behaviour. The Prisons Act of 24 November 2009 authorizes searches on an exceptional basis when other means of control are considered insufficient (rub-down, electronic detection). These principles are not implemented. They are vehemently opposed by some prison guards’ trade unions. Since June 2016, strip searches may be carried out in accordance with general guidelines setting out the places and times when they may occur. They are planned regardless of the criteria related to the prisoner themselves.

Body cavity searches are conducted by a physician

yes

Internal body examinations are banned unless express justification is provided. They must be carried out by a doctor.

Relatives who enter the prison are searched using the following methods

electronic devices

The search conditions of incarcerated individuals and the inspections of their loved ones, required during visits, are problematic for some. Some inmates refuse visits from their loved ones so as to shield them from these procedures.

Professionals who enter the prison are searched using the following methods

electronic devices

A guard at the Varenne-le-Grand detention centre forced a lawyer to remove her bra and place it in a locker before being allowed to see her client. At least three other lawyers reported identical experiences in July and August 2021. In August 2020, the director of the prison service called requests to disrobe a breach of the officer’s ethical duties, stating that the officer in question should be corrected or even reprimanded.

Security staff carry

  • firearms
  • non-lethal weapons

Security personnel do not carry firearms. The use of a firearm is possible from the watchtower in the event of an escape and is regulated. Each prison has an armoury, reserved for serious and violent incidents.
Taser use is on the rise in prisons. In November 2021, an order was issued to allow prison security teams to use tasers in more scenarios. Prison officers responsible for judicial transfers and releases, or internal and perimeter security were allowed to use this “intermediate” weapon to “respond to physical aggression” or “dangerous or threatening behaviour.” The French section of the International Prison Observatory denounced the inadequate legal protection when it came to taser use.

A special intervention unit is in charge of restoring order

yes

Regional intervention and security teams (ERIS, Equipes régionales d’intervention et de sécurité) assist with re-establishing and maintaining order in the event of collective or individual movements.

Policies for prevention of violent extremism and radicalisation have been implemented.
The women’s prison in Rennes has a special section for dealing with radicalised prisoners. The unit is designed to accommodate up to 16 inmates. It is the first unit of its kind dedicated solely to women in France.

  • As of 2021, there are seven radicalisation assessment units (RAUs), each with a capacity of twelve places. Among these, one located in Fresnes is exclusively for women, with a capacity of eight. Prisoners identified as potentially radicalised who undergo assessment in RAUs are subsequently transferred to either ordinary detention, isolation ward, or into a radicalisation management unit (QPR).

    There are six QPRs across various locations: Lille-Annoeullin, Condé-sur-Sarthe, Paris - La Santé, Aix-Luynes, Nancy, and Bourg-en-Bresse. These units are designed to house “the most actively proselytising or potentially violent prisoners,” offering a total of 189 places.

    Programmes aimed at preventing violent radicalisation are implemented in 79 facilities. The most dangerous prisoners are placed in “secure spaces,” currently numbering 450, with plans to expand this to 1,500.

    i
    02/06/2022
    / Vie publique

Incidents

The prison service keeps record of incidents

yes

  • The 142 prisoners held in Saintes Prison (Charente-Maritime) were pre-emptively transferred due to the area’s flood risk. The facility, located on the banks of the Charente, was in a similar situation in February 2021.

    i
    14/12/2023
    / Le Figaro

Number of escapes

859

i
2020
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 119.

Number of hostage takings

-

Number of violent acts against prison staff

4,314

The number of violent acts against prison staff increased by 5.8% between 2016 and 2017.

i
2018
/ Prison Administration

Collective movements are recorded

yes

Protest movements are usually aimed at denouncing prison conditions or failings of the institution. Prisoners may protest by refusing to return from the courtyard, refusing meals, or gathering in the workshops. Protests, regardless of the reason, constitute a disciplinary offence and may be referred to the Disciplinary Committee and result in a disciplinary sanction.

Disciplinary regime

Breaches of discipline are clearly defined in writing

yes

The disciplinary system and its proceedings carry certain procedural guarantees, such as the presence of a lawyer and the participation of an assessor on the disciplinary committee who is independent of the administration.

The decision to apply a disciplinary sanction must be subject to an adversarial debate

yes

Prisoners are allowed to be assisted by a lawyer

yes

Prisoners may appeal against disciplinary sanctions

yes

Disciplinary sanctions can be imposed as a collective punishment

no

Solitary confinement

Solitary confinement can be used as

  • protection
  • security

Solitary confinement is decided

  • a magistrate’s order
  • the prison governor
  • the request of the detained person

The duration for placement in solitary confinement is limited

yes

In theory, the time spent in an emergency protection cell (CproU) cannot exceed 24 hours. However, it is not uncommon for a prisoner placed in a CproU on a Friday night to spend the weekend there.

A prisoner was held in isolation for 32 months. He claimed that he was subject to inhuman and degrading treatment and feels that his right to privacy was violated, stating that the reasons for his isolation were not sufficiently justified. The European Court of Human Rights questioned France over these events.

Solitary confinement can be extended

yes

The solitary confinement measure is subject to regular review

yes

Solitary confinement is implemented in specific units.

  • The French branch of the International Prison Observatory (OIP-SF) and the Association of Solicitors for the Defence of Prisoner Rights (A3D) contacted the interim proceedings judge in March 2023 to put an end to the substandard prison conditions observed at the prison in La Talaudière (Loire). This request was the result of observations made in recent years. A deputy, a journalist and a member of the OIP-SF noted the “appalling” state of the disciplinary unit during a visit in November 2022. The walls were covered in brown graffiti – possibly excrement –, the toilets were rusted, rats abounded, refuse was dropped between the grating and the windows, the lights were dim, and the stench of urine was omnipresent. A part of the roof had been torn away, and a “beam collapsed in the middle of a corridor”. Without a roof, water seeps in, and the walls become waterlogged, “blistered”.

    The entire remand prison has been flagged up for its highly unsanitary conditions. This state of affairs reaffirms the observations made in 2019 by the Controller-General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty. This report did not lead to any change. On 1 January, the remand prison in La Talaudière held 381 prisoners in 241 spaces, i.e. a prison density of 158%.

    i
    2023
    / France Info