France will build thousands of new prison cells and more frequently use electronic tagging as part of reforms that French President Emmanuel Macron aims to implement to address one of the largest prison overcrowding issues in Europe and protests from prison staff complaining about violence.
France’s prison population of 69,000 people is the fifth largest in Europe after Russia, Turkey, Poland, and the United Kingdom, according to the World Prison Brief list compiled by a London university.
However, French prisons are more overcrowded than British ones, with an average of 115 inmates per 100 places. Reports from prisons in some Parisian areas indicate that inmates are sleeping on the floor because three or more people have been crammed into their cell.
Macron therefore wants to promote alternatives to incarceration for minor offenders.
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– Prison sentences are not there to respond to society’s feelings, Macron emphasized, warning that prisons sometimes create “monsters.” A convicted individual needs to return to society, he added.
Macron proposes abolishing prison sentences shorter than one month, and that those sentenced to one to six months mostly spend that time at home, which will be monitored electronically. This would reduce the number of inmates.
Macron added that drug abuse would be punished by confiscating money, not imprisonment.
