![pi_fp_francefr_illustration.png](/assets/f1440x800-q70/10040a8b/pi_fp_francefr_illustration.png)
France
Capital city — Paris
Country population
i2022Incarceration rate (per 100,000 inhabit…
i07/2023Type of government
Human Development Index
Homicide rate (per 100,000 inhabitants)
Name of authority in charge of the pris…
Total number of prisoners
i01/01/2023Average length of imprisonment (in mont…
i2021/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – Rapport 2021, p. 123.Prison density
i01/01/2023Total number of prison facilities
i2021/ Prison administrationAn NPM has been established
Female prisoners
i01/01/2023Incarcerated minors
i01/01/2023Percentage of untried prisoners
i01/01/2023Death penalty is abolished
yes, since 1981The last executio…
Overview
Prison population
Incarceration rate (per 100,000 inhabitants)
109
The authorities publish official statistics on prison population
yes, every three months
The prison service has a computerised record keeping system
Total number of prisoners
72,173
Variation in the number of prisoners
increase
Number of people serving non-custodial sentences
13,819
Variation in the number of people serving non-custodial sentences
increase
The courts are issuing fewer and fewer community service orders (TIG): 5,700 orders were issued in the first quarter of 2022, 30% fewer than in the first quarter of 2019, according to statistics from the Ministry of Justice.
Variation in the incarceration rate
increase
Number of admissions
68,060
Number of releases
69,681
Average length of imprisonment (in months)
11.1
Variation in the average length of imprisonment
increase
Prison density
119 %
Variation in the prison density
increase
Overcrowding is an issue for specific types of prison facilities
yes
Overcrowding is mainly concentrated in institutions where untried prisoners and people condemned to short sentences are held. In theory, these two populations are separated. This overpopulation also affects overseas facilities.
Several prisons – 48 in total – have occupancy rates of over 150% in march 2023. Some facilities have exceeded 200%, including Nîmes (212%), Bordeaux-Gradignan (211%) and Carcassonne (214%). This overpopulation is considered “chronic”.
The Camp Est facility (Nouméa, New Caledonia) holds 610 prisoners for a capacity of 410 as of February 2023. Four men share a 9-square-meter cell. Overcrowding results in tension and a lack of privacy. One prisoner says, “It’s hot, there’s dust in the cells. Some people blow a fuse, some break things. Some people can’t sleep. Then they have to take pills, they’re not well.” The presence of rats and cockroaches is reported, as well as leaky toilets, intense heat, and a faulty electrical grid. Camp Est’s state of disrepair had already been pointed out in both 2011 and 2019 by the Controller-General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty.
See the map
The “stop incarceration” intiative can be implemented for a specific period in a specific facility. It allows for the suspension of prison sentences in order to reduce overcrowding.
The country has been condemned by an international court for its prison overcrowding
yes
The European Court of Human Rights condemned France 17 times due to the conditions of detention, which violated Article 3 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
On 30 January 2020, in a judgement considered ‘historic’ by observers, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against France once more. The Court decided that Article 3 had been violated (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) due to poor conditions of detention. The Court ordered that the French authorities “must put an end to overcrowding in prisons and to degrading conditions of detention” (See press release). It noted that there is a “structural problem” and made recommendations on how to remedy it.
Between 2015 and 2018, a number of appeals were made by 32 prisoners held in the following prisons: Baie-Mahault (Guadeloupe), Ducos (Martinique), Fresnes, Nice, Nîmes, and Fa’aa Nuutania (French Polynesia). The European Court made a joint judgement “to broaden the scope” and ordered France to compensate the plaintiffs for damage suffered. The penalty is in excess of €500,000.
A new law “meant to guarantee respect and dignity while in prison”, was promulgated on 8 April 2021 as a response to the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR) condemnation of France in January 2020. It introduced the right of recourse to a judge for anyone in prison, whether convicted or on remand, in order to put an end to undignified prison conditions. If it is a well-founded request, the judge can then order prison authorities to resolve the situation within one month, by any means possible, including a change of facilities. The Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, applauded the “clear, readable and effective provisions” which “respond to the need for humanity and dignity which must accompany all deprivation of liberty measures”. The law is not expected to be a tool for regulating the prison population. Some say it does not go far enough and emphasise the “structural” overcrowding as pointed out by the ECHR. One member of the Union des démocrates et indépendants (UDi) party criticised the bill as relying basically on transfers: “How is going from one overcrowded prison to another overcrowded prison an improvement?”
A supervisory body has issued a decision on prison overcrowding
On 14 September 2023, the Controller-General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty published a notice on overpopulation and prison regulations in the Official Journal. The notice states that the measures implemented so far have proven ineffective. The CGLPL summarised all of her recommendations and reiterated that prison overcrowding “must stop being understood as a strictly penitentiary problem; it must become part of public policy and be given its own permanent resources. It must be accompanied by an exploration of imprisonment’s place in the criminal justice system and increased use of alternative sentences to incarceration”. The independent administrative authority suggests enshrining in law a prison regulation mechanism.
In 2017, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture published the following report: “The situation was of particular concern at Fresnes and Nîmes prisons, where the overcrowding and the lack of activities were compounded by serious problems with heating, damp, and infestations”. The CPT called on the French authorities to take urgent measures to address these problems, which could be considered as inhuman and degrading treatment.
Organisation
Name of authority in charge of the prison service
Ministry of Justice
Budget of the prison service
3,300,000,000 €
Between 2002 and 2023, the prison administration budget increased by 254%. The primary area of expenditure was the expansion of the prison estate.
In an analysis, the French branch of the International Prison Observatory stated that this choice to construct is “a recipe for disaster”. The association notes in particular the 5-billion-euro debt incurred by this choice, saying, “In addition to being inefficient, this choice exacerbates the problems it claims to resolve”.
The prison service outsources the management of the facilities to private companies, either partially or fully
yes
The private sector is responsible for the day-to-day operations in 71 prisons: food services, accommodations, training, work, maintenance. For the past several years it has also been in charge of family visits. The penitentiary administration is responsible for the management, the surveillance, the registry (follow-up of imprisonment), probation and re-integration.
The prison administration is part of the Ministry of Justice. It consists of a central administration (Direction de l’administration pénitentiaire), decentralised services (nine inter-regional prison boards and one authority for overseas départements and territories), integration and probation services, a prison employment service and the National School of Prison Administration (École nationale de l’administration pénitentiaire).
The detention regimes vary by institution and sentencing category. Most institutions fall into one of three regimes:
• an open regime, honour system or autonomous system is one in which inmate are free to move about within the lodging area or go to activities
• a semi-open regime or general system is one in which moving about is restricted to certain hours
• a closed regime, strict regime or controlled regime is one in which inmates are confined to their cells and may only leave if a guard opens the door for them.
Semi-custodial facilities accommodate inmates admitted into outside or day placement systems. The prisoner may leave the prison during the day to practise a professional activity or take classes or training courses.
Blocks for adjusted sentences may accommodate sentenced individuals who are subject to day placement measures or an exterior placement as well as sentenced individuals whose remaining prison time is less than a year, in order to allow them to complete a reintegration plan.
Recent construction contracts have been carried out by public-private partnerships (PPP). Even if they represent short-term savings for the public sector, the decision to engage PPPs is often questioned. In December 2017, the Court of Auditors presented a report (here) in which it strongly recommended that the future use of PPPs for justice-related construction projects be avoided. In the report, the Court of Auditors states that the extra cost of changes made during construction, as well as the inflexibility of PPPs, stalls the public prison service’s construction projects, which in turn leads them to question the savings incurred through the use of private contractors.
Prison facilities
There are two types of correctional facilities:
(1) Jails (maison d’arrêt) house people who are awaiting trial or sentencing or who have received sentences of two years or less.
(2) Prisons (établissements pour peine) for people who have been sentenced, including:
- prisons, which house at least two units for different types of prisoners
- detention centres and sections
- maximum-security prisons and sections
- semi-custodial facilities and sections (QSL)
- sections for adjusted sentences
A national assessment centre has three sites: Fresnes (capacity of 56), southern Paris (capacity of 231) et Lille-Annœullin (capacity of 30). Six penitentiary establishments for minors are spread out over the nation. The national public health facility in Fresnes has a capacity of 84 individuals.
Total number of prison facilities
187
Total official capacity of the prison facilities
60,670
Variation in the capacity of the prison facilities
-
A parliamentary report dated 25 May casts doubts on the government’s pledges to increase the prison capacity. Patrick Hetzel, the National Assembly’s special rapporteur for the Justice Ministry’s budget, argues that the construction plan for 15,000 places is “already insufficient”. Outlined in two stages (7,000 places in 2022, and another 8,000 in 2027), the project is lagging: by the end of 2022, only 2,441 places were available. Hetzel identifies “management” issues as the cause of these setbacks. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice emphasises the challenges in securing land for new prisons and rejects any claims of administrative problems. It insists that the deadline will be met.
The business magazine Challenges questions the government’s policy, reminding readers that the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has recommended against this approach since 2021: “increasing capacities is far from being a sustainable solution to the problem of prison overcrowding”.
Correctional facilities are spread out over the entire national territory.
Prison facilities are accessible by public transport
most establishments
All newly constructed institutions are on the outskirts of cities or far from them. La Santé prison in Paris is an exception.
Staff
Number of prison guards (FTE)
29,112
As most people do not see the career of prison guards as a calling, the prison service struggles to recruit. The national prison union Force ouvrière estimates that 700 additional recruitments were necessary in 2022.
The staff at Gradignan prison have reported numerous issues, including lack of support from superiors, understaffing and a toxic workplace. One guard said, “They trust us less and less. Management misuses video surveillance to monitor the staff”. Sick leave, departures and burnout are symptomatic of the difficult conditions of performing this job. One court clerk alluded to a lack of empathy and excessive to-do lists. The Controller-General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty was alarmed by the absenteeism rate in 2022, which sometimes reached 36%. She noted that the staff “did their best” to temper a worsening situation. Several staff members have since left the prison service.
Variation in the number of prison guard positions
increase
The number of prison officer posts increased by 1.24% between 2020 and 2021. It was 20,345 in 2021.
Guard to prisoner ratio
1 : 2,2
Number of socio-educational workers (FTE)
314
Percentage of socio-educational workers in relation to the entire prison staff
0.8 %
The prison staff is represented by (a) union(s)
The major unions are: Force ouvrière (FO), Syndicat pénitentiaire des surveillants (SPS), UFAP-UNSA and CGT-pénitentiaire.
Prison guards receive training at the National School of Prison Administration (École nationale de l’administration pénitentiaire). The duration of training is 6 months (formerly 8 months), followed by a 12-month internship in a correctional setting. Applicants to the program must be at least 19 years old and have earned a secondary school diploma or a recognised equivalent.
Entry-level guards are paid, at 1 January 2024, €1,985 net.