Question 16945 — places of deprivation of liberty

Summary

Ms. Andrée Taurinya alerts Mr. Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, to the dramatic consequences of the extreme heat in French penitentiary establishments and more particularly in overcrowded remand centers, which have become veritable thermal kettles. On June 20, 2026, around thirty people detained at the Carcassonne remand center refused to return to the cells in order to protest against the indignity of the conditions of detention. There was nothing unpredictable about this event. Representatives of prison staff themselves stressed that this situation had been feared for a long time, as the combination of overcrowding, dilapidated buildings, promiscuity and extreme heat made detention conditions explosive. This situation reveals the manifest failure of the heat plans currently implemented in detention. THE announced measures, access to water, adaptation of walking times, possibility of canteen fans and occasional increase in showers are insufficient, or even non-existent, depending on the establishments. The situation at the Carcassonne remand center underlines the failure of the announced measures. Furthermore, in many old buildings, the cells do not have a shower. Detainees must therefore wait for access to collective showers, which is not daily, even though temperatures remain high day and night. This heat also aggravates unsanitary conditions: proliferation of cockroaches, odors, humidity, lack of ventilation, inability to sleep, risk of illness and deterioration of health. As heat waves become more frequent, longer and more intense, these conditions cannot be treated as hazards seasonal and require immediate action. The noise-proof windows installed at the Marseille prison center illustrate how the management of nuisances and security constraints takes precedence over the dignity of detention conditions. In order to respond to complaints from residents related to noise, noise-proof windows were installed in certain cells. However, these devices, by very strongly limiting their opening, aggravate the lack ventilation and transform the cells into particularly stifling spaces during episodes of high heat. This situation is all the more worrying as it concerns in particular the women's section, where pregnant women can be detained, as well as the arrivals section, already subject to chronic overcrowding. A measure intended to contain an external nuisance cannot have the consequence of aggravating the conditions of detention of people who are already particularly vulnerable. These situations, neither isolated nor exceptional, show the inertia of the Ministry of Justice and directly engage the responsibility of the State. The latter has the obligation to guarantee conditions of detention compatible with human dignity. However, France has already been condemned on several occasions for unworthy conditions of detention, notably on the basis of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment. The MP recalls that the political response to these climatic events cannot be to build more and more prison places. This logic accentuates overpopulation and endangers both detainees and prison staff. She therefore asks him to specify what immediate measures will be taken to guarantee, from this summer, daily access to showers, fresh water, effective ventilation and cooling devices in all prison establishments. She also asks him if he intends to set maximum cell temperature thresholds triggering mandatory measures and initiate a thermal renovation plan for prison establishments. She finally asks him if he intends to give clear guidance to public prosecutors, SPIPs and sentencing courts so that climatic conditions of detention are fully taken into account in the use of alternatives to incarceration, particularly during periods of extreme heat. If several sentencing judges are already trying to combat prison overcrowding by increasing sentence adjustments, it is up to the Government to establish, like other countries in Europe, a lasting prison regulation mechanism in order to stem the overcrowding of penitentiary establishments. She wants to know when the Government will recognize that incarceration at all costs is not the solution, but one of the major factors in the indignity of detention conditions in France.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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