ABSTRACT
On May 1, 2012, there were 191 prisons in France, including 115 remand prisons housing 77,752 persons. There were 16,773 remand inmates (22% of the total), 50,300 sentenced inmates, and 9,467 persons sentenced to electronic monitoring. The total number of inmates detained in prison facilities was 67,073. During the last 30 years, the average length of detention increased from 4.7 months in 1977 to 8.3 months in 2005 and 9.8 months by 2010. In 1984, about 55% were serving a sentence of more than 3 months and by 2005 this figure had increased by more than 70%.
