It’s a bit like squaring the circle. How can we ensure an effective crime response and build prisons while respecting the goal of reducing spending? During his general policy statement, on Tuesday the 1stAhem October, Prime Minister Michel Barnier has not resolved this complex equation. On the other hand, he showed a certain voluntarism regarding the execution of sentences..
“It is necessary that the sentences be respected, that the sentences be carried out without transforming them, at the risk of losing all credibility to the criminal response”declared in particular. Without saying it openly, Barnier follows in the footsteps of Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, of the right wing of the Republicans (LR). In fact, the latter had criticized, on September 23 on TF1, “a right to non-execution of sentences”. Which was opposed by Didier Migaud, the Minister of Justice. Rightly so: according to his ministry’s figures for 2023, 95% of prison sentences are carried out.
To reinforce this feeling of“execution of sentences”Michel Barnier advocated the creation of “short prison sentences, carried out immediately”for certain crimes. A lawsuit filed in particular by the minority union Unité Magistrates, affiliated with Force Ouvrière. Bruno Retailleau, when he was LR senator for Vendée, also defended this solution. The idea is to rely on the “educational” dimension of the phrase, to create an “electroshock.” The head of Government also spoke in favor of “review the conditions for granting the suspended sentence” and for “limit the possibilities of reducing or modifying sentences.”
One thing is certain: these “short sentences” could make the sentencing reform, which came into force in 2020, obsolete. This text established that a sentence of less than one month could not be imposed. And she had to be housed for up to six months.
Budget below
Therefore, this preference for “all prisons” seems complicated to implement, given the tension that exists in French prisons. With almost 79,000 inmates for 62,000 places available in 1Ahem In September, global density reached 127.3%, with peaks sometimes of 200% or more in seventeen establishments or neighborhoods. In addition, 3,600 detainees are even forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor.
Mr. Barnier is aware of this difficulty. He thus promised to guarantee the criminal response and guarantee “the dignity of detention conditions”, “No more prison space.” However, he did not give the exact figure and did not refer to the plan to build 15,000 prison places by 2027, initiated by Eric Dupond-Moretti, former Minister of Justice.
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