France’s overcrowded prison population reaches all-time high – for months on end

An inmate stands in his two-person cell near a mattress set for a third inmate at Gradignan prison, near Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 3, 2022. © Thibaud Moritz, AFP

Since the start of 2023, month after month, France has been breaking records. Prison populations hit an all-time high on July 1, according to the justice ministry, continuing to rise after reaching 120 percent capacity in April.   

For the sixth time in almost as many months, the country’s prison population has reached an all-time high. And for the first time ever, the number of people behind bars exceeded the 74,000 mark on July 1, according to statistics published by the justice ministry at the end of last month.