“Is this a way of locking people up?”, criticizes the General Controller of places of deprivation of liberty

Dominique Simonnot, general controller of places of deprivation of liberty, said Friday March 1 at the microphone of France Inter “catastrophe” by the level of prison overpopulation in France. According to figures published Thursday by the Ministry of Justice, the number of detainees reached a new record on February 1, with 76,258 people incarcerated, or 5.5% more over one year. In remand centers, the occupancy rate climbs to 147.7% with many people forced to sleep on a mattress. “There are more than 3,000 mattresses on the floor”Dominique Simonnot is indignant.

The general controller of places of deprivation of liberty claims to have received “a letter from an 82-year-old inmate who [lui] says he sleeps on the floor on a mattress, among cockroaches and bedbugs”. “Is this a way of punishing?”she castigates.

Dominique Simonnot ensures that he understands “Let us go to prison if we have committed acts of delinquency.” But she wonders if they are “ways to lock people up”. “The law wants us to punish, but another part says that prison must be used to reintegrate”, recalls the general controller of places of deprivation of liberty. She considers that “under these conditions, in French remand centers, it is impossible”. Dominique Simonnot therefore calls on the government to “take action and take matters into your own hands”.