Following a visit to several French police stations and prisons (for adults and minors) in 2024, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) published an alarming report on Thursday 22 January on overcrowding and deteriorating detention conditions in France.
The CPT’s experts have drawn attention to cases of deliberate violence during arrests and the unsanitary conditions of some police premises.
They talk about prison overcrowding (more than 80,000 people incarcerated, including 17,000 beyond official capacity and more than 3,000 forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor).
A situation that risks turning a prison into a “human warehouse, seriously compromising human dignity”, writes the CPT.
Other causes for concern include the “largely inadequate” regime of activities, with more than 20 hours a day in cells, disparities in health care, with sometimes “serious deficiencies” in psychiatric care, and shortcomings in educational and recreational activities for minors.
French authorities responded to the report by reiterating the applicable legal framework and indicating their intention to step up staff training, combat prison overcrowding and improve the physical conditions of detention, in line with the CPT’s recommendations.
Link to the report (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/kdz (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)