Inmates in French prisons are especially exposed to climate change and other environmental threats, according to a new report that analysed the risks in nearly 200 penal institutions across France.
Dangers such as extreme heat, flooding and pollution constitute a "double sentence" for prisoners in France, says the environmental NGO Notre Affaire à Tous ("Everyone's Business").
A report released this week warns that all of France's 188 prisons, detention centres and other penal institutions are at risk from heat waves.
Extreme temperatures are made more dangerous by overcrowding and ageing facilities in disrepair.
In one prison in the southern city of Nîmes, cells have been found to reach 39°C in summer, the report said.
Meanwhile many outdoor exercise yards are made "entirely of concrete, with no trees, and sometimes without shade or access to a working water source", it highlights, making them little relief in hot weather.
Overcrowding in French prisons reaches all-time high
Floods, storms, pollution
Half of all institutions are located in areas at moderate to high risk of clay shrinkage and swelling, a phenomenon that affects soils when rainfall is low.
It can cause buildings' walls to crack, window joints to buckle and pipes to rupture, the report says, further harming living conditions.
Meanwhile almost one in three prisons are at risk of storms and cyclones, and nearly one in four are in potential flood zones.
Three institutions – in the overseas territories of New Caledonia, French Guiana and the Wallis Islands – even risk finding themselves "below sea level due to climate change", the report warned.
Often built at a distance from residential zones, many prisons are also located in areas exposed to pollution, it found. One in 10 lies near industrial or agricultural sites classified as potentially hazardous, while 70 percent stand on soil that may be polluted.
Almost one in four are located near airports, railways or motorways, exposing inmates, staff and visitors to air and noise pollution.
Multiple risks
"Certain prisons in France are exposed to multiple risks," said Chloé Lailler, a spokesperson for the NGO behind the report.
She pointed to the example of La Valentine juvenile detention centre outside Marseille on the south coast: not only is it at risk of extreme heat, but bordering as it does a nature reserve, it's also threatened by forest fires. Further, a train line runs nearby.
"And all that when you have an underage population that is particularly vulnerable in terms of health," Lailler told RFI.
The most exposed prisons are mainly in the south of France, the NGO said, including in Marseille and Toulouse.
It is calling on the authorities to renovate or even close the prisons at highest risk, while taking environmental factors in account when planning future institutions – for instance, avoiding building in low-lying areas.
Record prison population
It's not the first alarm over the state of France's prisons, which housed a record 77,880 inmates as of June.
Overall prison density now stands at 126 percent, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice, with more than 3,300 inmates forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor for lack of beds.
In recent years, international watchdogs including Amnesty and the European Court of Human Rights have called on France to improve conditions for detainees.
France urged to drastically improve situation in overcrowded jails
In a statement to French news agency AFP, the prison service said it was undertaking efforts to study the impact of climate change on prisons and possible ways to adapt.
While extra ventilation and sunshades are not an option for security reasons, it said, new prisons are being designed with heat resistance in mind.
