Prisons in Europe 25-215 France Country Profile Marcelo F. Aebi Léa Berger-Kolopp Christine Burkhardt Mélanie M. Tiago Lausanne, 3 June 218 Updated on 21 Noveber 218
COUNTRY PROFILE This country profile on France is taken fro the report Prisons in Europe 25-215 (link), which contains 51 profiles on the prison populations in the Prison Adinistrations of the 47 eber States of the Council of Europe. Prisons in Europe 25-215 presents data on prison populations across Europe fro 25 to 215. It is divided in two volues: Volue 1 presents country profiles based on several indicators concerning prison populations, and Volue 2 includes all the data used for the report. The report has been prepared by the University of Lausanne and co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe. Each country profile includes a Table with Key Facts about the country, which are presented in the for of several indicators referring to the latest available year and to the evolution during the latest ten years, as well as the relative position of the country (low, ediu or high) for each indicator copared to the 28 eber States of the European Union ( EU 28 ) and the 47 eber States of the Council of Europe ( CoE 47 ). The classification in low, ediu and high is based on the coparative indicators presented in Part 2 of the study. The country profile is divided in four sections and includes 8 Figures. The four sections are the following: - Key facts - The country in brief: This section suarizes the trends shown in the key facts fro 25 to 214/15. It illustrates which indicators have increased, which have decreased and which have reained stable. The indicator is considered as showing a stable trend if the variation is lower than 5%. - The country in coparative perspective: This section copares each country to the rest of the countries included in the study. General coents: This section includes eight Figures, coents to these Figures and soe possible explanations of the observed trends. The eight Figures are nubered fro 1 to 8 within each country profile and also include, between brackets, their absolute nuber fro 1 to 48. The Key facts include indicators of stock and flow. The stock indicators refer to the situation on 1st Septeber 215. The flow indicators refer to the situation during the year 214. On the basis of the data included in this study, we have calculated for each indicator the average for the 1 to 11 years under study. This average is presented in the fifth colun of the country profiles. Finally, the last colun of the country profiles provides a graphic indicator of the trend observed when one copares the last year of the series (214 and 215 respectively) to the first one (25). The arrows included in this colun reflect the evolution of the indicator according to the following table: +/- 4.9% stable +5 to +9% slight increase +1 to +19% oderate increase +2 to +49% substantial increase +5% and ore huge increase -5 to -9% slight decrease -1 to -19% oderate decrease -2 to -49% substantial decrease -5% and ore huge decrease
COUNTRY PROFILE FRANCE TRENDS 25-215 Key Facts Prison population rate (inates per 1, inhabitants) on 1.9.215 Rate of entries into penal institutions in 214 (inates per 1, inhabitants) Rate of releases fro penal institutions in 214 (inates per 1, inhabitants) Available since 29 Average length of iprisonent in 214 based on the total nuber of days spent in penal institutions (in onths) Average length of iprisonent in 214 based on stock and flow (in onths) Prison density on 1.9.215 (inates per 1 places) Median age of the prison population on 1.9.215 (in years) Percentage of feale inates (1.9.215) Percentage of foreign inates (1.9.215) 214/15 114.2 137.7 138.6 8.9 1.3 Coparative Evolution 25-214/15 CoE 47 EU 28 Average % Change 16.8 136.2 131.8* 8.7 9.3 131.6 High High 126.4 31. Low Low 31.9 3.5 Low Low 3.6 19.3 18.7 of which: in pre-trial detention --- --- --- --- --- Percentage of non-sentenced 23.1 inates (1.9.215) 25.3 Rate of deaths per 1, inates in 214 17. Low Low 28.2 Rate of suicides per 1, inates in 214 (n=77) 9.9 High High 14.6 of which: % in pre-trial detention (n=) Available since 213. Low Low NAP NAP Ratio of inates per staff (nuber of inates per 1 staff person) 2.1 High High 2.1 Percentage of custodial staff in the total staff 72. High High 73.3 Total budget spent by the prison 2 418 278 212 adinistration (in Euro) Available 2 523 691 845 NAP NAP ** since 211 Average aount spent per day for the detention of one inate (in Euro) Available since 28 *Average calculated fro 29 to 214 ** Average calculated fro 211 to 214 *** Average calculated fro 28 to 214 12.7 94.5*** 1
France in brief Coparing 214/15 to 25, the following indicators show a decrease: percentage of feale inates (- 8%), percentage of foreign inates (-5%), percentage of non-sentenced inates (-68%), rate of deaths per 1, inates (-55%), percentage of suicides (-46%), ratio of inates per staff (-15%), and percentage of custodial staff in the total staff (-12%). Coparing 214/15 to 25, the following indicators show an increase: prison population rate (+23%), prison density (+16%), rate of releases fro penal institutions (+6%), average length of iprisonent based on the total nuber of days spent in penal institutions (+7%), average length of detention based on stock and flow (+11%), total budget spent by the prison adinistration (+12%), and average aount spent per day for the detention of one inate (+21%). Coparing 214/15 to 25, the following indicators reain stable: rate of entries into penal institutions (+1%), edian age of the population (-4%). France in coparative perspective Copared to other European countries, in 214/15 France presents: o Low: Median age of the prison population, percentage of feale inates, percentage of nonsentenced inates, rate of deaths per 1, inates, percentage of suicides in pre-trial detention. o : Prison population rate, rate of entries into penal institutions, rate of releases fro penal institutions, average length of iprisonent based on the total nuber of days spent in penal institutions, average length of detention based on stock and flow, percentage of foreign inates, ratio of inates per staff, average aount spent per day for the detention of one inate. o High: Prison density, rate of suicides per 1, inates, percentage of custodial staff in the total staff. 2
General coents Figure 1 (113) Fig. 1: Prison population rate and flow of entries and releases fro penal institutions (per 1, inhabitants) Rates per 1, inhabitants 15 13 11 9 7 136 137 93 92 142 1 139 135 131 128 131 127 125 111 14 13 13 139 136 138 135 134 139 117 119 118 114 5 Flow of entries Flow of releases Prison population rate Figure 1 shows that, fro 25 to 215, the prison population rate of France (stock) increased by 23%. In 25, the country had 93 inates per 1, inhabitants, while in 215 it had 114. Fro 25 to 214, the rate of entries (flow of entries) reained relatively stable. In 25, there were 136 entries into penal institutions per 1, habitants, while in 214 there were 138. Fro 29 to 214, the rate of releases (flow of releases) increased by 6%. In 29, there were 131 releases fro penal institutions per 1, habitants, while in 214 there were 139. The flow of entries and the flow of releases show relatively siilar rates and trends. Figure 2 (114) Fig. 2: Average length of iprisonent (in onths) Average length of iprisonent (in onths) 14 12 1 8 6 4 2 1.5 9.4 9.7 9.9 1.1 1.3 8.4 8.2 8.4 8.5 9. 9. 9. 8.8 8.9 9.1 8.9 8.1 8.4 8. 25 26 27 28 29 21 211 212 213 214 Based on days spent in penal institutions Based on stock and flow of entries in penal institutions Figure 2 shows that, fro 25 to 214, the average length of iprisonent based on the nuber of days spent in penal institutions increased by 7%. In 25, the average length of iprisonent was 8.4 onths, while in 214 it was 8.9 onths. During the sae period, the average length of iprisonent coputed on the basis of the ratio between the stock and the flow increased by 26%. In 25, the average length of iprisonent was 8.1 onths, while in 214 it was 1.3 onths. 3
Figure 3 (115) Fig. 3: Prison density per 1 places (Overcrowding) 15 Prison density per 1 places 14 13 12 11 1 9 114 115 125 131 123 119 128 134 136 134 132 8 7 Figure 3 shows that, fro 25 to 215, the prison density of France increased by 16%. In 25, the country had 114 inates per 1, inhabitants, while in 215 it had 132. Figure 4 (116) Absolute nubers 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Fig. 4: Total capacity of penal institutions and nuber of inates 76 47 78 363 77 739 76 111 72 326 66 712 66 37 66 925 63 5 58 53 57 832 56 426 56 562 56 991 57 435 58 54 57 838 53 764 51 16 5 373 5 714 5 894 31 913 33 36 34 127 35 633 34 691 35 81 35 13 36 311 29 718 26 664 27 562 21 837 22 39 22 97 22 536 23 88 24 65 24 495 25 82 25 37 25 234 26 153 Nuber of places in penal institutions Nuber of staff (FTE) Nuber of inates Of which: nuber of custodial staff Figure 4 shows that, fro 25 to 215, the total nuber of places in penal institutions in France increased by 13%. In 25, the country had 51,16 places, while in 215 it had 57,838. According to the inforation collected during this research, the nuber of places in penal institutions increased due to the construction of new penal institutions. During the sae period, the total nuber of inates increased by 31%. In 25, the country had 58,53 inates, while in 215 it had 76,111. Fro 25 to 215, the total nuber of staff increased by 36%. In 25, France had in total a staff of 26,664 persons, while in 215 it had 36,311. During the sae period, the total nuber of custodial staff increased by 2%. In 25, the total custodial staff was 21,837 persons, while in 215 it was 26,153. 4
Figure 5 (117) 35 Fig. 5: Percentage of feales and foreigners in the prison population rate 3 25 Percentage 2 15 2,4 19,8 19,4 18,3 18,1 17,8 17,5 18,2 18,4 18,9 19,3 1 5 3,8 3,7 3,8 3,6 3,5 3,5 3,5 3,5 3,5 3,7 3,5 Feales Foreigners Figure 5 shows that, fro 25 to 215, the percentage of feale inates decreased by 8%. In 25, 3.8% of the inates were feales, while in 215 they represented 3.5% of the total prison population. During the sae period, the percentage of foreign inates decreased by 5%. In 25, 2% of the inates were foreigners, while in 215 they represented 19% of the total prison population. Figure 6 (118) 5 Fig. 6: Percentage of inates and foreign inates without a final sentence 4 35,5 31,8 Percentage 3 2 27,6 25,1 23,5 23,7 22,8 22,1 21,4 22, 23,1 1 All inates Foreign inates Figure 6 shows that, fro 25 to 215, the percentage of inates without a final sentence decreased by 35%. In 25, 35% of the inates did not have a final sentence while, in 215, inates without a final sentence represented 23% of all inates. Data on the percentage of foreign persons in pre-trial detention were not available. 5
Figure 7 123 (119) Fig. 7: Distribution (in percentage) of sentenced prisoners by offence 1 8 Percentage 6 4 2 Hoicide Assault and battery Sexual offences Robbery Theft Drug offences Other offences* Not specified Figure 7 shows that, fro 25 to 214, the percentages of prisoners serving sentences for assault and battery, robbery, and theft have increased; while the percentages of those serving sentences for hoicide have decreased. Figure 8 (12) Fig. 8: Rate of deaths and suicides (per 1, inates) 5 43 Rates per 1, inates 4 3 2 1 21 37 16 34 3 15 15 29 16 27 23 14 14 22 2 13 12 17 1 25 26 27 28 29 21 211 212 213 214 Rate of deaths (per 1, inates) Of which: rate of suicides (per 1, inates) Figure 8 shows that, fro 25 to 214, the rate of deaths of inates in penal institutions per 1, inates decreased by 6%. In 25, there were 43 deaths per 1, inates, while in 214 there were 17. During the sae period, the rate of suicides of inates in penal institutions per 1, inates decreased by 53%. In 25, there were 21 suicides per 1, inates, while in 214 there were 1. 1 The figures provided by the country do not always add to 1%. 2 Sexual offences include (1) rape (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 25), and (2) other sexual offences (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 28). 3 Other offences include (1) econoic and financial offences (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 28); (2) terroris (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 27); (3) organised crie (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 27); (4) cybercrie (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 214); and (5) other cases (included in the SPACE questionnaire since 25). 6