The number of people incarcerated in French prisons rose again in June, to 67,971 detainees on July 1, an increase of 15.7% in one year, according to statistical data from the Ministry of Justice consulted on Wednesday. July 28 by AFP.
Read also: The slow growth of prison spaces
On July 1, French prisons had 67,971 prisoners for 60,398 operational places, against 66,591 on June 1 and 65,384 on May 1, an increase of 2,587 prisoners in two months.
This growth is + 15.7% over one year: there were 58,695 prisoners on July 1, 2020.
Prison density in the 188 penal establishments now stands at 112.5%, against 109.5% on June 1 and 108% on May 1.
It is 132.2% in remand centers, where prisoners awaiting trial and those sentenced to short sentences are incarcerated, an increase of more than 20 points compared to July 1, 2020. Prison density even reaches 198.5% to the Tarbes remand center.
30% of inmates are awaiting trial
As of July 1, 1,138 inmates were forced to sleep on a mattress placed on the floor, one of the instruments for measuring prison overcrowding.
They were 431 a year ago.
As in previous months, nearly 30% of those imprisoned (19,221) are defendants detained pending trial.
The number of imprisoned minors is down very slightly (-0.5%), with 771 on July 1 against 779 a month ago.
They represent around 1% of the total prison population.
The proportion of female prisoners (3.3%) also remains stable.
A total of 83,511 people were placed in jail on July 1, of which 15,540 were not detained and were placed under electronic surveillance (14,828) or outside placement (712), stable figures.
Condemnation of France by the ECHR
Prison overcrowding is regularly singled out.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned France in January 2020 for its chronic overcrowding and ordered it to resolve it definitively.
Read also: Are there enough jail places for minors?
In the spring of 2020, thanks to the health crisis, the number of inmates had dropped drastically (-13,000), and the average prison occupancy rate had fallen for the first time in twenty years below the 100% threshold.
But since the resumption of judicial activity in September, the prison population has continued to climb.
Faced with this outbreak, several organizations sounded the alarm again in early June and urged Emmanuel Macron to act to "put
an end
" to this overpopulation.
