Faced with prison overcrowding, an emergency mission commanded by the Ministry of Justice recommends a “Exceptional penalty” reduction “ general for ” all “ detainees, with exceptions. The report, accessed on Saturday May 10 by the France-Presse agency (AFP), was commissioned by the former Minister of Justice, Didier Migaud, in November, to professionals in the sector (magistrates, prison director, lawyer). He was returned to his successor in March, Gérald Darmanin.
“Overcrowding must now be understood for what it actually represents: a state of emergency”write the authors, while the figures beat new records every month (82,921 prisoners at 1er April for 62,358 places, an overall prison density of 133 %). They propose that the legislator determines “In emergency” a “Exceptional penalty” reduction “ Applying for all prisoners condemned and serving a prison sentence in detention, “Subject to the exclusions to be determined by Parliament”.
They recommend drawing inspiration from the measure taken during the containment against the Spring 2020 covid, which had raised for the first time in twenty years below 100 % occupancy of prisons.
“Very large reserve of political representatives”
“For the sake of acceptability”it will notably be necessary to fix a quantum of penalty beyond which the mechanism would not apply (during the COVID, the condemned for domestic violence, crimes, terrorism had no right), as well as the quantum of the reduction of sentence (two months at the time). To prevent the effects from fading, as had been the case after the pandemic, this mechanism will be able to be “Reproduced” As soon as the threshold of 100 % of the national occupancy rate is exceeded, they say.
Such a regulatory mechanism is claimed by a majority of the actors concerned for years. “The very large reserve of political representatives” to seize it is explained, according to the authors, by the fact that “French justice continues to be widely considered lax by public opinion”. And this, despite the fact that the figures show that the criminal response “Has never been so strong, that the duration of imprisonment penalties is growing”.
Solicited, the Chancellery said there would be a “Public expression” About the report “In the coming days”. The mission was made up of the first president of the Versailles Court of Appeal, Jean-François Beynel, of the General Prosecutor of the Besançon Court of Appeal, Marie-Christine Tarrare, the president of the Bobigny court, Peimane Ghaleh-Marzban, of the prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac, of the director of the Parisian Health Prison, Bruno Clément-Petremann, and the Advocate Clotilde Lepetit.