Latest news with #prisonovercrowding
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
France's prison population reaches record high
France's prison population has reached a record high of more than 80,000 inmates amid a government drive for fast-track justice. Over the past year, the number of people incarcerated grew by 6,000, taking the occupancy rate to 133.7 per cent. France now has 83,681 inmates held in facilities that have a total capacity of just 62,570. That figure is around 30 per cent worse than in England and Wales, where there are 88,000 prisoners and 89,000 places, figures last month showed. The record overcrowding has seen 23 out of France's 186 detention facilities operating at more than twice their capacity, forcing some prisoners to sleep on mattresses on the floor. The policy of fast-track justice in Emmanuel Macron's government, where prosecutors can bring a person to trial soon after being taken into custody, has been blamed for the situation. These immediate hearings mean more people can be sentenced in a shorter amount of time, funnelling people into prison at a faster rate. In 90 per cent of these cases, the outcome of these fast-track hearings is detention, whether pre-trial or to serve out a sentence, according to Dominique Simonnot, the head of a prison watchdog group in France. France now sits behind Cyprus as the second worst country in the European Union for prison overcrowding, according to latest statistics. Separate data published by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, found that the highest overcrowding was observed in Cyprus, with an occupancy rate of 226.2, France at 122.9, and Italy at 119.1. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, a hardline figure in Mr Macron's cabinet, unveiled proposals last month to house the country's most dangerous prisoners in French Guiana - an overseas territory situated north of Brazil - to try and accommodate the overflow. Prison overcrowding is 'bad for absolutely everyone,' Mr Darmanin said in late April, citing the 'appalling conditions' for prisoners and 'the insecurity and violence' faced by prison officers. That same month, 10 French prisons, from Paris to Marseille in the south, were hit by coordinated attacks in response to government attempts to tackle drug trafficking. In the space of two days arsonists set fires to parked cars, many belonging to prison staff, outside jails in Villepinte, Nanterre, Aix-Luynes and Valence, while the entrance to one prison in Toulon was sprayed with more than a dozen bullets from an automatic weapon. No injuries were reported. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Le Parisien newspaper reported that vandalised cars were found tagged with the letters DDPF, which stands for Defending the Rights of French Prisoners. A law currently going through the French parliament would also create a special prosecutor's office to deal with narcotics crimes and give new powers to investigators. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
France's prison population reaches record high
France's prison population has reached a record high of more than 80,000 inmates amid a government drive for fast-track justice. Over the past year, the number of people incarcerated grew by 6,000, taking the occupancy rate to 133.7 per cent. France now has 83,681 inmates held in facilities that have a total capacity of just 62,570. That figure is around 30 per cent worse than in England and Wales, where there are 88,000 prisoners and 89,000 places, figures last month showed. The record overcrowding has seen 23 out of France's 186 detention facilities operating at more than twice their capacity, forcing some prisoners to sleep on mattresses on the floor. The policy of fast-track justice in Emmanuel Macron 's government, where prosecutors can bring a person to trial soon after being taken into custody, has been blamed for the situation. These immediate hearings mean more people can be sentenced in a shorter amount of time, funnelling people into prison at a faster rate. In 90 per cent of these cases, the outcome of these fast-track hearings is detention, whether pre-trial or to serve out a sentence, according to Dominique Simonnot, the head of a prison watchdog group in France. France now sits behind Cyprus as the second worst country in the European Union for prison overcrowding, according to latest statistics. Separate data published by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, found that the highest overcrowding was observed in Cyprus, with an occupancy rate of 226.2, France at 122.9, and Italy at 119.1. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, a hardline figure in Mr Macron's cabinet, unveiled proposals last month to house the country's most dangerous prisoners in French Guiana - an overseas territory situated north of Brazil - to try and accommodate the overflow. Prison attacks Prison overcrowding is 'bad for absolutely everyone,' Mr Darmanin said in late April, citing the 'appalling conditions' for prisoners and 'the insecurity and violence' faced by prison officers. That same month, 10 French prisons, from Paris to Marseille in the south, were hit by coordinated attacks in response to government attempts to tackle drug trafficking. In the space of two days arsonists set fires to parked cars, many belonging to prison staff, outside jails in Villepinte, Nanterre, Aix-Luynes and Valence, while the entrance to one prison in Toulon was sprayed with more than a dozen bullets from an automatic weapon. No injuries were reported. No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Le Parisien newspaper reported that vandalised cars were found tagged with the letters DDPF, which stands for Defending the Rights of French Prisoners. A law currently going through the French parliament would also create a special prosecutor's office to deal with narcotics crimes and give new powers to investigators.
Arab News
3 days ago
- General
- Arab News
France's prison population reaches all-time high
PARIS: France's prison population hit a record high on May 1, with 83,681 inmates held in facilities that have a capacity of just 62,570, justice ministry data showed on the past year, France's prison population grew by 6,000 inmates, taking the occupancy rate to 133.7 record overcrowding has even seen 23 out of France's 186 detention facilities operating at more than twice their Minister Gerald Darmanin, who has called the overcrowding crisis 'unacceptable,' has suggested building new facilities to accommodate the growing prison hard-line minister announced in mid-May a plan to build a high-security prison in French Guiana — an overseas territory situated north of Brazil — for the most 'dangerous' criminals, including drug overcrowding is 'bad for absolutely everyone,' said Darmanin in late April, citing the 'appalling conditions' for prisoners and 'the insecurity and violence' faced by prison officers.A series of coordinated attacks on French prisons in April saw assailants torching cars, spraying the entrance of one prison with automatic gunfire, and leaving mysterious assaults embarrassed the right-leaning government, whose tough-talking ministers — Darmanin and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau — have vowed to step up the fight against in late April, lawmakers approved a major new bill to combat drug-related crime, with some of France's most dangerous drug traffickers facing detention in high-security prison units in the coming ranks among the worst countries in Europe for prison overcrowding, placing third behind Cyprus and Romania, according to a Council of Europe study published in June 2024.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Justice secretary hits back at police in row over early prison release scheme
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has hit back at the UK's most senior police officer in a row over the impact of allowing thousands of criminals to serve their sentences in the community instead of being sent to jail. The Ministry of Justice insisted on Wednesday that officials 'consulted with police' including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, over proposed changes to sentencing policies introduced to ease prison overcrowding. Hours earlier, Rowley had said that the scheme to free thousands of offenders early would 'generate a lot of work for police' and claimed that the decision had been made 'without any analysis of the impact on policing whatsoever'. The clash came as public servants lobby the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in the expectation of budget cuts from the spending review on 11 June. Mahmood has insisted that she must take drastic action to cut prison overcrowding or risk the collapse of the criminal justice system. Recommendations from David Gauke's sentencing review, which proposed less jail time for thousands of offenders including some violent criminals and domestic abusers, were accepted in principle by Mahmood last week. These recommendations will allow prisoners in England and Wales to be eligible for release after serving a third of their sentence, drop short custodial sentences for nearly all offenders and allow suspended sentences for up to three years. On Wednesday morning, Rowley told the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme that the plans would 'generate a lot of work for police'. 'We've asked the Ministry of Justice for the data so that we can understand the exact detail of the types of offenders who will in the future be in communities, so we can work through what the consequence of that are.' Rowley said the decision would further stretch the resources of police forces still struggling to recover from financial cuts. 'We're carrying the scar tissue of years of austerity cuts, and forces are much smaller when you compare the population they're policing than they were a decade or 15 years ago,' he said. Responding to Rowley, a government source said that police, including Rowley himself, had been consulted by both officials and politicians in the months leading up to the publication of the review. Rowley met Mahmood last week before the sentencing review was published, it is understood. 'The department and David Gauke consulted with police. The justice secretary accepted the recommendations 'in principle', but always said that further detail would come forward with the bill. The impact assessment will be published when the bill comes before parliament,' the source said. Officials from the Ministry of Justice are currently drawing up legislation based on the principles which were passed in principle before parliament. They hope that a bill could be put forward before summer recess. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Police remain concerned that the principles have been drawn up before the impacts upon policing have been taken into account. A police source said: 'More criminals in the community will result in more work for police officers. After a decade of keeping things on an even keel, the cash reserves have been eaten through.' Rowley also joined the head of MI5 and the National Crime Agency in writing to the justice ministry to predict that plans to release prisoners early could be to the 'net detriment to public safety'. The letter, sent before the sentencing review was published, argued police would need the 'necessary resources' in the next spending review to deal with the plan's impact and maintain order. 'We have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and that out of prison does not mean out of control,' they said. Rowley also joined five other senior police officers to predict the government would miss its key crime targets without extra resources for policing. They predicted the next spending round could jeopardise Keir Starmer's promise to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls, and to appoint 13,000 additional frontline officers.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Would shorter prison sentences ‘spark a crime wave'? Here's what the evidence says
The final report of the Independent Sentencing Review has proposed the most significant reform of sentencing and punishment in England and Wales since the 1990s. The review, chaired by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, calls for a number of changes to address the crisis of overcrowding in prisons. These include using fewer and shorter prison sentences, enhanced opportunities for early release based on good behaviour, and more use of community sentences. The government has already accepted most of the recommendations in principle, though many will require legislation to bring them into effect. The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has said that the most serious offenders should not be eligible for an earlier release under the proposals. Prisons in England and Wales have been at or near capacity for a number of years, and frequently exceed their safe capacity. Official data shows that the current adult prison population is estimated to be around 87,700, compared with a maximum operational capacity of around 88,800. However, maximum capacity figures are only recorded annually, and the poor conditions of the prison estate mean the usable maximum may often be lower at any given time. Without reforms to sentencing, the prison population is projected to increase to up to 105,000 by 2029. In September 2024, prison overcrowding resulted in the emergency early release of around 1,700 prisoners serving sentences of less than five years who had served 40% of their sentence. They would ordinarily have not been eligible for early release until they had served 50% of their sentences. The Gauke review was commissioned to create a more sustainable solution to prevent further emergency measures. However, both the review and the emergency measures have come under criticism, namely that dangerous offenders will be released and communities and victims will be at risk. The shadow home secretary, Robert Jenrick, has claimed that the most recent proposals will 'spark a crime wave'. So, will shorter sentences make communities less safe? What does the evidence say? A core recommendation is that custody should be used only as a last resort. It calls for sentences of less than 12 months to only be given in exceptional circumstances, for example, where the offender is known to pose a high level of risk to a specific victim despite being sentenced for a less serious offence. The research on short-term imprisonment consistently shows that it is ineffective for a number of reasons. Short prison sentences are disproportionately expensive, especially when compared with community sentences. The offenders serving them have committed relatively minor offences, so pose a low risk other than in exceptional cases. Perhaps the most significant finding is the fact that the shorter the sentence, the higher the reoffending rate. Reoffending is around 55% for prisoners sentenced to less than 12 months, compared with an overall rate of 27.5%. If reoffending can be reduced by using more effective sentences, communities will be safer. Another key proposal is the 'earned progression model'. Under this, most prisoners (except those sentenced for specified serious sexual or violent offences) would be eligible for release after serving one-third of their sentence. They must have engaged constructively with the prison regime. They would then be supervised intensively in the community by probation services until they had served two-thirds of their sentence. After this, they would not be actively supervised. Prisoners who fail to engage constructively would not be eligible for release until the halfway point of their sentence. Under the early release policy introduced by the government in September 2024, these prisoners would be released after serving just 40% of their sentences. There is a sound evidence base for incentivising good behaviour in prison, rather than simply punishing bad behaviour. It is shown to help prisoners develop a sense of autonomy and accountability for their actions. This can help them abstain from reoffending once released. A focus on effective rehabilitation, rather than punishment alone, runs through the review. For example, recommendations for improved and targeted substance abuse and mental health treatment. There is widespread evidence across jurisdictions which suggests that a focus on rehabilitation, and not longer prison sentences, is what reduces overall crime levels and makes communities safer. It also makes economic sense. The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, made clear in his most recent annual report in September 2024 that a fundamental reorientation of prisons towards rehabilitation is needed in order to reduce overall crime levels. The Howard League for Penal Reform has also welcomed the proposals in the sentencing review. Concerns Victims groups have raised concerns about the risk of sex offenders or domestic abusers being released early, even under the current regime. The review recommends strengthening protections for victims, for example, by expanding specialist domestic abuse courts and tagging for all perpetrators of violence against women and girls. More controversially, it recommends increasing trials into the use of voluntary chemical castration for serious sex offenders. The justice secretary is reported to be considering the use of mandatory chemical castration. Other questions remain around the implementation of the reforms, not least how they would be funded in the current economic climate. The chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, has warned that without better funding and other reforms in the probation service, the proposals in the Gauke review would be 'catastrophic'. The review recommends investing in the strained probation service, and bringing in third-sector organisations to support it. These are ambitious reforms that would require a considerable investment in the probation service, prisons, community rehabilitation and technology. There are also emerging human rights concerns about the adoption of advanced AI by probation services, as is recommended by the review. Ultimately, there is little evidence to suggest that fewer prisoners and shorter sentences will make communities less safe. It is ineffective rehabilitation leading to reoffending which comes at a considerable social and economic cost.
