After the publication of the reports « En finir avec la surpopulation carcérale » (Ending prison overcrowding) and « Rapport sur la mise en œuvre de la loi du 15 août 2014 relative à l’individualisation des peines et renforçant l’efficacité́ des sanctions pénales » (Report on the implementation of the law of 15 August 2014 on the individualisation of sentences and strengthening the effectiveness of criminal sanctions), FARAPEJ drafted a counter-report containing ten proposals.
More than two years after the publication of this counter-report, where are we now ?
The ten proposals of FARAPEJ were :
You can find the synthesis of the FARAPEJ counter-report by clicking here : Synthèse du contre-rapport sur la surpopulation
We believe that these ten proposals are still very relevant, which suggests that the situation has not changed since the publication of the FARAPEJ counter-report. The figures confirm this : as of 1 October 2019, 70,818 people were detained !
The conference proposed by FARAPEJ does not aim at yet another exchange on prison overcrowding. The situation is known and the finding is shared by all. This conference aims to seek short-term solutions to reduce the prison population and longer-term solutions to keep it at an acceptable level.
To this end, the conference will be structured around three themes :
While the observation of prison overcrowding is known and shared, the phenomenon that leads to this situation remains unknown. The improvement of statistical tools should make it possible to set a target figure as a result of a debate, in particular on the concept of the capacity of penitentiary establishments, which should not be reduced to a number of places, and to set up a prevention tool. We also need to think about what happens before the decision to imprison someone is made. Decriminalizing certain offences and ensuring that others cannot lead to prison are avenues of reflection that have already been put forward but have been virtually ignored. Nor have the discussions on community sanctions been sufficiently developed. Nor have all initiatives to limit pre-trial detention to what is strictly necessary been followed by the expected success. Moreover, prison overcrowding does not allow for an effective review of prison life. In parallel with the reflection on the elimination of overcrowding, the day of detention must be redefined, so that it is more oriented towards the (re)socialization of detainees. The prison concept must take into account the notion of time and space.