A police officer stands in front of the Majicavo Correctional Center, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, on February 23, 2026. MARINE GACHET / AFP
France's prisoner population broke new records last month, with the jail occupancy rate reaching an all-time high of almost 137%, Justice Ministry data viewed by Agence France-Presse on Monday, March 2, showed. Jails on February 1 counted more than 86,000 inmates despite only having capacity for around 63,000, bringing the occupancy rate to 136.9%, compared to 130.8% a year earlier.
Since then, French prisons have taken in 5,046 more inmates while only increasing the number of places available to 1,643. Overcrowding forced 6,596 detained people to sleep on mattresses on the floor, compared to 4,490 on February 1, 2025.
France has some of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe, ranking third worst after Slovenia and Cyprus, according to a Council of Europe report published in July. The council, which is Europe's watchdog for democracy and human rights, in January said French prisons risked becoming "human warehouses" due to overcrowding, poor conditions and growing violence.
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