French prisons exceed the threshold of 90,000 inmates, a sad record
Prison overcrowding reached 142.1% as of September 1, with more than 8,300 mattresses on the floor, according to official figures from the Ministry of Justice.
Quick Look
French prisons have 90,020 inmates for 63,348 places as of September 1, setting an overcrowding record with an overall rate of 142.1% and more than 8,300 mattresses on the floor, according to statistics from the Ministry of Justice.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
France faces chronic prison overcrowding and is among the worst performers in Europe in terms of prison density.
A sad record, in a context of chronic prison overcrowding. French prisons had 90,020 inmates on September 1 for 63,348 operational places, according to official statistics from the Ministry of Justice published on Saturday October 3.
The number of prisoners increased by 6.8% over one year (84,311 prisoners on September 1, 2025), while the number of operational places stood at 63,348 on September 1 (+1.2% over one year). The overall over-occupancy rate as of September 1 is therefore 142.1%, and the prison density even reaches 176.1% in remand centers, where people sentenced to short sentences or those awaiting trial and therefore presumed innocent are detained. Faced with the lack of beds, the number of mattresses placed on the floor stood at 8,347 as of September 1, an increase of 51.8% compared to September 1, 2025.
“The construction of new establishments cannot constitute a relevant response”
France is one of the worst performers in Europe in terms of prison density, tied with Turkey (131 people detained for 100 places), ahead of Croatia (123) and Italy (121) in particular, according to 2025 figures from the Council of Europe. The institution denounced the state of French prisons at the beginning of the year, warning in a report of the risk of an evolution towards a "human warehouse". The general controller of places of deprivation of liberty, Dominique Simonnot, deplored the absence of "national-scale measure" to curb prison overcrowding, in a notice published in the Official Journal at the beginning of July.
The Ministry of Justice intends to open 3,000 additional places in modular prisons, deemed cheaper and faster to build, half of which from 2027, while less than a third of the 15,000 additional prison places planned in a national plan launched in 2018 have been delivered. "The construction of new establishments cannot constitute a relevant response: given the current rate of progression of overpopulation, it would be appropriate, to absorb it, to put a penitentiary center into service every six weeks", however, warned Dominique Simonnot in his opinion. “Sentence adjustment mechanisms and alternatives to incarceration, although essential, remain underused or hampered by restrictive implementation conditions,” she added.
Open Questions
- What emergency measures will be taken in the face of the lack of beds?
- Will the modular plaza construction plan be accelerated?
