Prison overcrowding weighs on the policy of executing sentences, warns the Court of Auditors

How the prison system works “is not satisfactory with regard to an ambitious objective of preventing recidivism“. Overcrowding in French prisons weighs on the policy of executing prison sentences and costs “around 4 billion euros” per year, estimated Thursday, October 5, the Court of Auditors in a report. “France is thus among the ten European countries where the incarcerated population is increasing”observes the institution, recalling that at the end of 2022, the occupancy rate of remand centers was “nearly 143%”.

>> INFOGRAPHICS. Justice reform: visualize the evolution of prison overpopulation since 1990

According to data from the Ministry of Justice, 73,693 people were incarcerated on September 1, while the number of operational places in French prisons was 60,629. Among the causes of this phenomenon, a “increased repression” for certain crimes and offenses such as “domestic violence, traffic offenses or violence against the police”L’“increase in the use of immediate appearances and the maintenance, at a high level, of the pre-trial detention rate”, according to the Court.

Alternatives to incarceration (such as the electronic bracelet or community service) have had on their side “limited effect”increasing “in parallel” to imprisonments. In addition, the construction of new penitentiary establishments, the deployment of the new policy to reduce short sentences and the experimentation of “prison regulation” did not allow a reduction in occupancy rates, notes the Court of Auditors.