The number of detainees reached a new all-time high on May 1, with 73,162 people incarcerated in French prisons. Of those imprisoned, 19,852 are remand prisoners, imprisoned pending trial.
The occupancy rate is 142.9 per cent in remand prisons, where presumptively innocent detainees and those sentenced to short sentences are held. It even reaches or exceeds 200% in six establishments: 250.9% in Majicavo (Mayotte), 225.4% in Bordeaux-Gradignan. The government wants to build 15,000 new prison places by 2027.