It is not the first time that the French State has been criticised for the poor state of its prisons. On 14 September the Inspector General of French Prisons, CGLPL, reports: "All the findings made since 2012 regarding the over-population of prisons show, and more since the health crisis [Covid-19], that the conditions of prisoners are worsening everywhere, even by prison workers."

On 1 August there were 74,237 prisoners for 60,000 places, distributed in 179 prisons. Baiona prison, for example, has 75 places and there are currently 135 prisoners. On other occasions the situation is even worse: the occupation is 200% in the ten prisons, which means that there is twice the need to be housed there.

Closer to the data, we can see that on June 1, 72,067 people were imprisoned. They have over 2,000 inmates in the last two months. It should be borne in mind that on 27 June the 17-year-old Nahel Merzou was killed by the police, causing riots throughout the French State. In total, 4,000 arrests for eight days, more than half tried and immediately sentenced to 1,800 prisons. This clearly shows that Paris is still closely linked to the prison sentence, although it is known that it has little place.

To address the problem, the French Government has committed itself to creating an additional 15,000 seats by 2027. Over the past 30 years, it has risen from 30,000 to 60,000 seats.

Overpopulation

The CGLPL, Inspector General of Prisons of France, in its annotation, lists what prison overpopulation means: "It establishes promiscuity that weakens the dignity of detained persons, weakens their privacy, hinders access to hygiene and, more seriously, prevents access to art. It makes ineffective the reintegration objectives that the law attributes to the prison administration, [...] education and vocational training are very scarce, the activities are insufficient, especially the supply of paid work". If it is maintained, it regrets that the malfunction ends up being "standard", taking as an example the reality of some prisons.

In July the European Court of Human Rights denounced the "insulting" conditions of French state prisoners. He already punished him, in January 2020, for the same reason.