By Observatoire International des Prisons – Section française
In April 2026, amid severe prison overcrowding, the Chair of the French National Assembly’s Law Committee introduced a bill aimed at tackling overcrowding in remand centres through the transfer of prisoners and sentence reductions.
On 14 April 2026, the then Chair of the National Assembly’s Law Committee tabled a draft bill aimed at addressing overcrowding in remand centres through prisoner transfers and sentence reductions (Bill No. 2672). Remand centres accommodate remand prisoners, as well as prisoners serving sentences of up to two years’ imprisonment or with less than two years remaining to serve. This bill revives a measure initially envisaged in a draft bill prepared by the Minister of Justice, which was ultimately abandoned.
This initiative comes at a time of particularly acute prison overcrowding in France. With 88,829 prisoners for a capacity of 63,237 places as of 1 June 2026, the French prison system is experiencing chronic overcrowding. Remand centres and remand sections, where 70% of the prison population is held, have an occupancy rate of 172.6%.
To address this crisis, the draft bill proposes introducing a mechanism based on occupancy thresholds tailored to the specific characteristics of each prison. Where a threshold is exceeded, new admissions would, unless otherwise justified by a reasoned decision, be directed to other prisons, while the prison service would proceed with the transfer of prisoners. The scheme also provides for the possibility of the sentence enforcement judge granting an exceptional sentence reduction of up to six months to prisoners whose remaining sentence is nine months or less and who demonstrate good conduct (excluding persons convicted of crimes and terrorist offences).
These measures have been deemed insufficient by civil society organisations and national human rights bodies, which have been calling for several years for the establishment of a binding national mechanism based on a maximum occupancy rate of 100%.
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