As of December 1, 80,792 people were detained in France, a new record, for 62,404 places, according to figures posted online Tuesday evening by the Ministry of Justice. An endemic disease in France, prison overcrowding continues to break records month after month.
The overall prison density was 129.5% as of December 1. This density, greater than or equal to 200% in around fifteen establishments or penitentiary areas, forces more than 4,000 prisoners, 4,255 to be exact, to sleep on mattresses placed on the floor.
The prison density even reaches 156.8% in remand centers, where detainees awaiting trial, therefore presumed innocent, and those sentenced to short sentences are incarcerated. The threshold of 80,000 prisoners was crossed on November 1 (80,130).
France among Europe's bad students
Among those incarcerated as of December 1, 21,291 are defendants, in detention awaiting their final judgment. In total, 97,372 people were detained as of December 1. Among them, there are 16,580 non-detainees placed under an electronic bracelet or placed outside.
France is among the worst performers in Europe in terms of prison overpopulation, in third position behind Cyprus and Romania, according to a study published in June by the Council of Europe.
However, measures have been taken to try to remedy this problem, such as the ban on prison sentences of less than one month, the adjustment of sentences and the development of community service. These new figures come after the previous Minister of Justice, Didier Migaud, warned that the implementation of the plan to build 15,000 additional prison places by 2027 could not be honored on time.
