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This statistic represents the evolution of prison density between 1990 and 2024. Over the entire period, there is only one year when French prisons were not overcrowded, in 2001. After a sharp decrease in the prison population in 2021, overcrowding increased significantly again in 2024.

A rising budget, but deplorable conditions:

While the prison administration budget continues to increase, approaching * billion U.S. dollars in 2023, the occupancy rate remains above 100 percent. Overcrowding has terrible effects on both incarcerated individuals and prison officers who are powerless in the face of the lack of public resources and the number of inmates imprisoned, which reaches a new historic record each year. The prison administration notes a considerable increase in inmates forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor due to insufficient space.

Urgent measures in response to European condemnations:

With intense prison density, France is the subject of concerns from the Council of Europe and a new condemnation by the European Court of Human Rights in July 2023. French authorities are therefore trying to develop new measures to combat this prison overcrowding. Notably, with the prohibition of prison sentences of less than one month, especially since most inmates are still awaiting trial and are therefore presumed innocent. These individuals find themselves incarcerated in remand centers, which are the most numerous penitentiary establishments in France.