The schedule will not be kept. Didier Migaud, the new Minister of Justice, was clear, during his speech on France 2's “20 Heures”, Tuesday November 19: the realization of the plan providing for the construction of 15,000 prison places by 2027 is “hardly”. “We must take measures to make up for this delay. We are considering a bill to speed up procedures. We must move away from the single prison model. […] Not all of the inmate population is made up of serious criminals. We need diversified solutions, smaller centers which require less security”, declared the Keeper of the Seals who had promised to engage in a “operation truth” on this very sensitive subject.
Led by his predecessor at Place Vendôme, Eric Dupond-Moretti, the “15,000 plan” is far from the mark: to date, less than a third has been achieved and only 42% of the objective will be achieved in 2027. “If we do not act, only 6,421 new prison places will be built at the end of the five-year term,” added the former socialist. In ” the best case scenario »this plan will only be finalized in 2029 and only if very significant budgetary efforts take place from 2026. Suffice it to say that, in the current economic situation, this optimistic vision is compromised.
The reasons for these delays are multiple. First of all, the objective always seemed difficult to achieve given its scale. To this must be added the cumbersome procedures but also very high technical requirements. There is also very strong local resistance, either from elected officials, or from residents, or both. The reasons given are safety and/or the environment. Furthermore, the chancellery recalls that “different crises have followed one another (the Covid-19 pandemic, or the war between Russia and Ukraine), increasing supply times and making the work of construction companies more difficult”. Finally, we must not forget many technical and environmental hazards, such as the protection of protected species, archaeological excavations, etc.
Situation « explosive »
However, there is an urgent need to act. The situation in prisons is more critical than ever. At the beginning of November, a new record fell: there are now more than 80,000 prisoners in France for just over 62,000 operational places. In remand centers, where prisoners awaiting trial, and therefore presumed innocent, as well as those sentenced to short sentences are incarcerated, the average density is 156%, with peaks of more than 200% in around twenty establishments, including 4,000 mattresses on the floor (+ 60% in one year). And the ministry's forecasts are alarming: more than 86,500 detainees should be received in January 2026, and more than 93,000 in 2027, an increase of 5,500 detainees per year on average.
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