Commentary: New report slams French prison conditions

PARIS, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A three-year-old scandal over the deplorable conditions in French prisons has come back to haunt the French government, with a new report suggesting that if anything, matters have gotten worse.

The Paris-based International Observatory of Prisons claims nearly 61,000 inmates packed into the country's jails represent a high not witnessed since the end of World War II. Prison density and suicide rates have also soared in recent years.

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"When OIP decided to publish a report on the state of prisons in France in 2003, we had objective reasons to fear a deterioration of a situation deplored and denounced in 2000, by two parliamentary assemblies and the president of the Court of Cassation," the nonprofit group wrote in its report, published this week. "But we didn't imagine we would have to describe a descent into hell."

The observatory's findings paint a grim picture of France's prison system. According to the report, the average jail occupancy rate is 125 percent - 25 percent beyond maximum capacity. The state of French jails varies dramatically, observatory and other experts say, with the most crowded conditions generally found in institutions harboring short-term inmates or people awaiting trials. In one worst-case scenario -- the prison of Mans -- 135 people share just 45 places, the report said.

More prisoners are also going to jail for longer periods of time, the observatory reported. And prison suicide rates -- 122 in 2002 -- are climbing.

"Unfortunately, the situation...is not the result of negligence or a lack of means," the group wrote, "but of a deliberate policy."

"Since 2001, France has completely changed its policy and we're witnessing levels of incarceration of historic proportions," said observatory member, Francois Carlier. "Given the current rate of incarceration, we are fast catching up with the countries who lead imprisonment in Europe -- Spain and Britain."

The report sparked a sharp rebuttal Tuesday by French Justice Minister Dominique Perben, who described the findings as "excessive and gross attacks" by a militant association.

"We're improving matters," Perben said in an interview on France's RTL radio. "And I find it sad, finally, that this association of militants...has made such a summary analysis of reality, because we must assure the security of the French -- which means it's indispensable that there are prisons."

The state of French prisons fueled national outrage in 2000, after the top doctor of La Sante prison in Paris wrote a graphic book describing living conditions there. The less savory details included lice-filled mattresses, twice-weekly showers for prisoners, and detainees so depressed or deranged they swallowed rat poison or forks.

The book -- "Chief Doctor at La Sante Prison," by Dr. Veronique Vasseur -- prompted a parliamentary inquiry into French prisons. Then came a pair of reports by the French Senate and National Assembly entitled, "French Prisons: A Humiliation for the Republic." And then vows to reform the country's prison system, in part by looking for alternatives to incarceration.

But a year later, media reports of out-of-control crime rates -- and looming national elections -- sparked a major about-face. A crackdown on crime launched by France's previous leftist coalition government was pursued under the current, center-right administration. The net result, Carlier said, has been a return to considering incarceration as the answer of first -- and last -- resort.

"They backtracked on a realization that the conditions of detention had completely degraded in France -- even as the level of second offenses remained just as high," he said.

Nonetheless, the number of prisoners in France and elsewhere in Europe dwarfs that in the United States. Western European countries on average have about 80 detainees per every 100,000 people, experts say, compared to some 800 to 900 detainees per 100,000 in the U.S.

Indeed, many European countries are turning away from incarceration, and seeking other methods of punishment and reform. The widening array of alternatives include community service, special homes for juvenile offenders, and a form of "restorative justice" that may include dialogue between the offender and the victim.

Until recently, France followed this pattern. The numbers of detainees in French prisons dropped steadily between 1996 and late 2001, according to Pierre Tournier, an expert on prisons for the Council of Europe. The proportion of prisoners locked up in French jails ranked among the lowest in Western Europe. And amid much fanfare two years ago, a new "presumption of innocence" law went into effect, increasing the rights of those detained.

"There's a general policy aimed at reducing the use of prisons as a penal system that's supported by almost all Western European countries," Tournier said. "So the current French position is completely atypical -- at times one has the impression the French model is almost the American one."

But detention rates rose sharply after 2001, following media reports that the crime rate was out of control. Between September 2001 and 2002, the number of detainees increased by 14 percent.

"If you extrapolate from this trend, it means the prison population will double in five years -- which would be catastrophic," Tournier said. "Which is why I think this radical trend can't last for a long time -- simply because the penitentiary system can't sustain it."

Even at its new high, French detention rates remain only slightly higher than the European average. Rather, it is Britain and Spain who lead the trend in incarcerations.

France's center-right government has announced it will build 30 new prisons -- and 13,000 new prison spaces between now and 2006. Justice officials have also expanded the number of electronic tracking bracelets for those on parole, and are launching new juvenile detention centers. The new measures have drawn mixed reviews.

"Eighty percent of juveniles who are incarcerated return to prison," said Carlier, of the prison observatory, "which is a worse rate of second-offender than for adults."

But Perben suggested nay sayers like Carlier were exaggerating France's incarceration problems. "We've never had so many prisoners, but we're between Germany and Britain in terms of the number of prisoners compared to the number of inhabitants," the Justice Minister said. "And, despite what people think, it's not a figure that can drop, just like that, with a snap of the fingers."