During this visit, the CPT visited 14 police and gendarmerie detention facilities, four prisons (Fleury-Mérogis, Fresnes, Marseille-Baumettes and Villefranche-sur-Saône) and the Valentine-Marseille detention centre for children.

Most persons recently apprehended by the law enforcement authorities did not allege having been subjected to ill-treatment. However, the CPT received several allegations of deliberate violence, including against children, particularly in the context of ground immobilisation techniques involving pressure on the chest, neck or face. The committee stresses that such techniques present a high risk of postural asphyxia and calls for their review.

Material conditions observed in police premises remained “extremely worrying”, including dirty and dilapidated cells, defective sanitary facilities, the presence of cockroaches and foul odours, as well as the lack of clean mattresses or blankets. Visited premises of the gendarmerie were in much better physical condition, but people continued to spend the night alone in holding cells without a call system or any permanent physical presence of staff. The CPT calls on the French authorities to remedy these structural deficiencies without delay.

The visit to the four prisons took place against a backdrop of steadily worsening prison overcrowding. The threshold of 80,000 detained persons had been exceeded at the time of the visit with around 17,000 persons held above capacity and 3,810 individuals forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor. Overcrowding affected all aspects of prison life: intimacy, tensions, lack of activities and work opportunities, and difficulties in accessing healthcare. For the CPT, this situation can turn a prison into a human warehouse, seriously compromising human dignity.

Material conditions varied greatly. The prison of Marseille-Baumettes and certain sections of the prison of Fleury-Mérogis had new or renovated facilities. In contrast, conditions were very poor in Villefranche-sur-Saône and unacceptable in Fresnes. The committee found cells that were overcrowded, damp, unsanitary and infested with rats, cockroaches and bedbugs.

Alan Mitchell, president of the CPT, said that “overcrowding has increased since our visit in October 2024 – more than 86,000 persons were incarcerated in December 2025, including 6,446 sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and nearly 30 establishments were holding more than twice their capacity. We are therefore extremely concerned about prison conditions in France.”

In addition, the establishments suffered from a lack of resources and their functioning was compromised by under-staffing. While most prisoners did not allege being subjected to ill-treatment, the CPT received credible allegations of physical violence by prison officers, mainly in the prisons of Fresnes and Villefranche-sur-Saône.

Inter-prisoner violence was much more widespread. Fights and extortion took place regularly, and the lack of intervention by staff in the exercise yards, or due to understaffing, created a climate of fear for many prisoners.

The range of activities on offer remained very limited. Most remand prisoners spent nearly 20 hours a day in their cells, and more at weekends, due to a lack of activities, training or work opportunities. The authorities should substantially increase the number of activities, including for women and in mother-and-baby units.

In their response to the report, the French authorities indicated their intention to strengthen training programmes for law enforcement, prison, and healthcare personnel, and highlighted both existing and planned measures to address prison overcrowding and improve conditions of detention.