Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the situation in French prisons was already critical. According to the Ministry of Justice, in January 2020, there were 70.651 detainees in French prisons whereas infrastructures are meant to host 61.080. 

On 24th March 2020, the Minister of Justice, said before the French National Assembly that 1,600 detainees had been released since the beginning of the crisis, due to fewer imprisonments (criminal courts have reduced their activity, and prosecutors have been asked to resort to alternatives to imprisonment), as well as early releases by execution judges.

Similarly, the Minister has announced that upcoming rulings would allow:   

- Detaines with less than 2 months to serve to finish their sentence at home;  

-Detainees with up to 6 months to serve to commute their sentence to community service hours.  

She expects that 5.000 people would thus be released. 

She expressly said that she did not want to make general decisions with respect to pre-trial detention, which amounts to 30% of prisoners, who are presumed innocent. 

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