PARIS – France’s prison population broke new records last month, nearing 90,000 inmates as overcrowding hit an all-time high, justice ministry data showed Tuesday.
That brought the occupancy rate to a record 141.6 percent, up from 136.9 percent in February — itself a record at the time.
Overcrowding forced 7,956 detained people to sleep on mattresses on the floor, up 43.5 percent compared to the same time last year.
For those in detention centres awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences, the occupancy rate stood at 175 percent.
In May, the Council of Europe, the continent’s rights watchdog, said France and Turkey had the most overcrowded prisons in Europe.
UN experts on torture prevention, following a visit the same month, urged France to tackle “serious” prison overcrowding, saying conditions violated detainees’ rights and could amount to “inhumane or degrading” treatment.
In early January, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said he wanted to tackle overcrowding by building more prisons.
His ministry plans to create 3,000 additional places in modular prisons, half of which are due to be operational by 2027.
But under a separate plan launched in 2018, fewer than a third of 15,000 planned prison places have been delivered. – AFP
