The men's penitentiary center in Vezin-le-Coquet, a municipality bordering Rennes. - C. Allain / 20 Minutes

Prisons are "on the verge of implosion" in the Great West. It is the penitentiary FO union which is sounding the alarm by evoking the situation at the Rennes-Vezin remand center where more than 200 prisoners sleep on mattresses on the floor. “Sometimes there are four detainees in cells designed for two people. It creates conflicts and tensions and it affects the security of the establishment, ”says Sophie Hautbois, inter-regional secretary for the Great West of penitentiary FO.

Contacted by AFP, the interregional direction of the penitentiary services recognized "a high peak" of the prison overcrowding, which is not confined to the prison of Rennes. The Saint-Brieuc or La Roche-sur-Yon remand centers have occupancy rates of around 200%, according to figures from the prison administration.

Over 70,000 people incarcerated in France

In Rennes, the administration cannot install new bunk beds in the cells because that would prevent opening the windows, according to the interregional directorate.

The number of prisoners in French prisons, who suffer from chronic overcrowding, remained stable on January 1, with 70,651 people incarcerated, representing a density of 116% in 188 French prisons. The number of people sleeping on mattresses on the floor, 1,614, increased by 16.2% in one year.

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  • Society
  • Jail
  • Rennes
  • detainees
  • Prison overcrowding