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France in prison crisis/ Authorities are considering renting cells in other countries
2025-05-22 15:14:36 / BOTA
French authorities are considering a radical option to address severe overcrowding in the country's prisons: renting cells in other European countries.
But while the idea, introduced by French President Emmanuel Macron in a recent television interview with national broadcaster TF1, has sparked interest, it has also drawn criticism from some in the prison system, who see logistical, legal and ethical challenges.
"The Netherlands rented prison beds to Belgium with its own staff, but under Belgian law.
"The Dutch staff had to be trained to understand how things worked in Belgian prisons," explained Dominique Simmonot, France's Inspector General for Places of Deprivation of Liberty, an independent public body responsible for overseeing the country's prisons.
"And secondly, family visits were extremely complicated, due to visa requirements and distance," Simmonot added.
"In the end, Belgium abandoned the project, so I see no reason to repeat the experiment."
With more than 82,900 prisoners and only 62,000 prison cells, France is rapidly running out of space.
It is also the third-worst performing country in Europe for prison overcrowding, after Cyprus and Romania, according to a study by the Council of Europe published last year.
Annabelle Bouchet, Deputy General Secretary of the prison staff union SNEPAP-FSU and a long-serving probation officer, also does not believe the idea is realistic.
"There are some very concrete elements that, in my opinion, make it very difficult to implement such an idea," Bouchet told Euronews.
"First, from a budgetary point of view, going abroad to rent facilities has a cost. And today, the state of French public finances is such that budget cuts have to be made everywhere. I don't see how it can be profitable to send convicts to another facility outside our borders," she stressed.
As a probation officer, Bouchet also cited the potential pressure on reintegration, warning that placing prisoners away from their families and support networks could affect their long-term rehabilitation.
"Deporting people who have been convicted and imprisoned means they are away from their families, but it also means they are away from areas of employment and actors that would enable them to reintegrate into society," she explained.
Earlier this year, French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin suggested building modular prison units to house prisoners serving shorter sentences.
Macron has also expressed interest in improving the construction of 5,000 new seats, using faster and lighter structures.
But according to those who work in the system, sending prisoners abroad or building more units will not solve prison overcrowding.
Bouchet believes that alternative sentencing and better mental health and addiction counseling could help reduce the prison population.
"Today, not all people who are sick and who commit crimes due to addiction or mental health problems should be in prison. We need to think about another solution because prison is not the answer to everything," she said.
Which European countries have rented foreign prison cells?
France is not the first country to consider this option. Between 2010 and 2016, Belgium leased 680 prison places to the Dutch city of Tilburg.
In 2022, Denmark signed a 10-year, 210 million euro agreement to lease 300 cells in Kosovo.
And Estonia has expressed interest in renting out free space in its prisons to other countries, estimating potential annual revenue of 30 million euros.
While the Danish-Kosovar agreement amounts to almost 200 euros per prisoner per day, France's daily cost per prisoner currently ranges from 100 to 250 euros, depending on the type of institution, according to broadcaster TF1.
Belgium's previous partnership with the Netherlands amounted to 40 million euros per year, partly due to personnel costs.
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