Detention rhymes with incarceration. But the first does not necessarily induce the second. In other words, one can be sentenced to “firm” without going to prison.
“When sentences are modifiable, they are modified. It is an injunction from the legislator.”explains Hicham Melhem, regional delegate for the FO Magistrates Unit. Today, the law allows this arrangement for up to one year of imprisonment. “Above a year, they go into detention.” Until 2020, this threshold was set at two years. On this point, the law has therefore become stricter.
She is not the only one. In Nice as in Grasse, prosecutors assure us: justice is increasingly firm. “We are doing a lot more fast-track procedures. In most cases, the accused is placed in custody.”notes Damien Savarzeix, public prosecutor of Grasse.
Record occupancy rate at Nice remand center
Another trend: “The extension of the length of sentences handed down”. Consequence: “An inflation of prison overcrowding”. At the beginning of 2024, the occupancy rate of the Grasse remand center reached 124%. In Nice, in the men’s section, it rose between May and September from 171% to 192%. A critical level which, for prosecutor Damien Martinelli, reflects the severity of the criminal response.
Another toughening: since January 1, 2023, sentence reductions are no longer automatic, but subject to the assessment of the sentencing judge (JAP).
“The law conditions the granting of the remission on exemplary behavior, an investment in reintegration, compensation for victims, summarizes Me Florian Abassit. The criterion of prison overcrowding is never taken into account when granting an arrangement.”
For lack of a new prison…
But for Nordine Souab, Ufap-Unsa prison delegate, these sentence reductions are “essential for regulating the flow, because there are always more people coming in than going out. It’s a carrot. In a remand center where overcrowding is chronic, we are constantly juggling to manage the tensions.”
Faced with a lack of space, new prisons are slow to emerge. “We saw it clearly in Nice, in Saint-Laurent-du-Var… Nobody wants it!”deplores Laurent Alcaraz.
His union, the National Police Alliance, is calling for a “shock of authority. From the moment you commit an offence, you have to feel like you are being punished. The response is not dissuasive enough.”
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