• As of July 1, French prisons had 67,971 people detained, according to figures released Monday, July 26 by the Ministry of Justice.

  • If the health crisis and the orders taken by the former Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, made it possible to reduce the prison population in the spring of 2020, the placements in detention have continued to increase for several months.

  • A situation that worries the new General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), Dominique Simonnot.

It is a dynamic to which France has become accustomed. Like every month since the start of 2021, the number of people detained in the country increased in July. After a significant drop observed at the end of the first confinement, in spring 2020, the prison population increased by more than 15% in one year. In the months of May and June alone, French prisons received 2,587 additional prisoners. "A pace never seen since World War II,"

Le Monde

reported on Tuesday 

.

Faced with this situation, the new General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), Dominique Simonnot, alert.

A month ago, the former legal journalist at 

Canard Enchaîné 

sent urgent recommendations to the government in the face of the situation observed at the Toulouse-Seysses remand center.

Denouncing an “unbearable habituation” to this phenomenon of prison overcrowding, the CGLPL asks: “Which country has France become to support that?

".

As of July 1, French prisons numbered 67,971 people detained.

In one year, this figure has jumped 15.7%.

What does this annual review inspire you?

It is appalling. The orders taken in spring 2020 by Nicole Belloubet during the health crisis had made it possible to lower the occupancy rates a little. Remand prisons remained overcrowded, but life in prison had become a little more bearable. Today, the conditions of detention have become appalling again. Our last check-up at Toulouse-Seysses prison was a shock. It was the first time that I saw three men living together, not in 9 square meters, as we are used to writing or reading, but in 4.28 square meters. What country has France become to endure this? And this form of addiction to prison overcrowding is unbearable.

How to explain such an evolution when measures to adapt the sentence, such as the use of electronic bracelets, were to gain momentum with the justice reform which entered into force in 2020?

As with community service, we realize that the increase in the use of electronic bracelets does not impinge on incarceration rates.

In reality, it replaces a classification, a reminder of the law, a stay or a fine.

If this was truly an alternative to detention, there would not be so many prisoners.

We have to find a way out of this dynamic, and that is why I supported the Minister of Justice to take back orders similar to those signed by Nicole Belloubet.

But I was not heard.

What concrete consequences does this increase in the prison population have on the conditions of detention?

Overcrowding in prison has an impact on absolutely everything.

First of all on the hygiene and health of detainees.

Today there are 1,138 mattresses on the floor.

At Seysses prison, for example, inmates wrap themselves in their sheets and slip toilet paper into their ears so that cockroaches do not enter them.

Showers cannot always be taken regularly.

An inmate with a particular condition was prescribed daily medical showers by a doctor.

But he cannot benefit from it, for lack of time, he was told.

Overcrowding also has consequences for the safety of detainees and staff. Still in Toulouse, there was a supervisor for 50 inmates when the prison opened in 2003. In 2021, there is one supervisor for 136 inmates. So it creates violence, between inmates or against the guards. How not to go wild in such conditions? Finally, that inevitably has consequences on reintegration. Like the guards, the penitentiary integration and probation services (SPIP) find themselves with a very large number of inmates to follow and support. However, they cannot always do it under good conditions and lack the time to implement successful projects.

A month ago, you sent urgent recommendations to the government precisely concerning the conditions of detention at Toulouse-Seysses prison.

Did you receive a response from the Chancellery and if so, which one?

I was told that the programming and reform law for justice (LPJ) would bear fruit and provide solutions.

But we can see that it does not work.

In Seysses, the average sentence to which detainees were sentenced is 4.5 months.

However, the YPA normally provides, in view of the gravity of the facts, that a prison sentence of between one and six months must be served outside prison.

Why is it not applied?

Even if I know very well that magistrates are subject to contradictory injunctions, it is a question of will.

In an important jurisdiction in the south-east of France, the public prosecutors have, for example, agreed with the judges for the application of sentences (JAP), the SPIP and the teams of the remand center so that when a certain threshold of occupation is exceeded in the establishment, the nuts cease, the time to find alternatives.

Since your appointment in October 2020, do you feel that you have been heard on certain points?

Yes Fortunately.

Things have improved in the unit for disabled prisoners or those with loss of autonomy that we visited at Bedenac prison (Charente-Maritime).

And I must say that in the field, at the end of our feedback after our checks, we regularly receive positive feedback from the management teams.

We feel that this causes awareness and we are provided with concrete answers and avenues for improvement.

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Haute-Garonne: Overpopulation, cockroaches, violence… Seysses prison in the crosshairs

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Prisons: With 66,591 inmates on June 1, the increase in the prison population continues

  • Eric Dupond-Moretti

  • Justice

  • Coronavirus

  • Jail

  • Inmates