Overview

• French detention centres held 84,447 inmates in facilities meant for 62,566 as of June 1, pushing occupancy to 135%.
• Emergency heatwave protocols and reports of prisoners sleeping on cell floors underscore the human rights and health risks of the overcrowding.
• A June 30 joint appeal signed by prison staff unions, magistrates’ syndicates, reintegration workers and academics demands an end to default incarceration.
• Signatories cite three decades of international research showing that professional, individualized support yields better outcomes in reducing reoffending than unaccompanied prison terms.
• Their reform blueprint calls for reserving prison for serious offences, establishing a graduated scale of fines, probation and incarceration, and reassessing sentence lengths and prosecutorial discretion.