French prisons criticised

Europe’s top human rights watchdog sharply criticised France’s law enforcement and jail systems in a report today, saying prisons throughout the country were overcrowded and in a bad state.

The report, drafted by the Council of Europe’s outgoing Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles, also criticised police for operating with a sense of impunity, and said the French judicial system suffered from a “glaring lack of resources".

Gil-Robles, who spent two weeks conducting research in France in September, said some of the jail cells at police stations were “disastrous and at odds with the requirements of the modern society".