This very small decrease has no impact on the general overcrowding of prisons.

As of August 1, the number of detainees in France reached 71,819, a slight decrease of 0.3% compared to the previous month, according to statistical data from the Ministry of Justice published on Friday.

This fall in the number of people imprisoned is recurrent in the summer period, due to traditionally slow judicial activity and thus fewer entries into detention.

The occupancy rate of French prisons, which have 60,719 operational places, now stands at 118.3% compared to 113.1% a year ago.

Nearly 2,000 detainees have no bed

This prison density is 140.3% in remand centers, where prisoners awaiting trial - and therefore presumed innocent - and those sentenced to short sentences are imprisoned.

Fifty-one prisons have a density above 150%.

This occupancy rate even exceeds 200% in five establishments (including 217.2% in Carcassonne, 216.9% in Foix or 208% in Nîmes).

Because of this overcrowding, 1,827 prisoners in France are forced to sleep on mattresses placed on the floor.

Among the detainees, 19,013 are defendants, imprisoned awaiting trial.

A total of 87,293 people were placed in prison on August 1, against 88,176 the previous month.

Among them, there are 15,474 non-detainees subject to placement under an electronic bracelet (14,729) or placement outside (745).

“The real scandal [is] the lamentable state of our prisons”

The number of female prisoners (3.5% of the total prison population) and that of minors (0.8%) are slightly down.

The publication of these monthly statistics comes in the midst of a controversy, fueled in particular by the far right and the right, after the organization of a game called "Kohlanness", and in particular a kart race, at the prison of Fresnes (Val de Marne).

“The real scandal is not karting, but the lamentable state of our prisons”, was moved in a tribune by the comptroller general of prisons Dominique Simonnot, recalling that the prison of Fresnes is one of the most dilapidated in France and regularly singled out for their conditions of detention.

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