What are the "incarceration costs" that Darmanin wants to implement for prisoners?

Will inmates soon have to finance their detention? On Monday, April 28, in a letter addressed to prison officers, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin expressed his "full support" and announced that inmates would contribute to "incarceration costs." Planet takes stock.

Towards a prison package for certain prisoners?

"Just as there is a hospital package , there was a prison stay package," recalled Gérald Darmanin on the TF1 news. The Minister of Justice wants incarcerated people to contribute to their own financial support , taking up a bill tabled on March 11 by Christophe Naegelen, LIOT MP for Vosges.

The latter starts from the observation that prison overcrowding in France constitutes a major problem, the elected official believes that its resolution will require massive public investments. If the State must take charge of the creation or renovation of infrastructures, the deputy proposes that the operating costs could be partially financed by the prisoners themselves, through this compulsory contribution .

A "symbolic" participation on the part of the prisoners

The idea would not be to make them pay the approximately €4 billion it costs to run French prisons annually, but to establish a form of "symbolic but important" participation, according to Gérald Darmanin. This contribution would only apply to convicted prisoners.

In support of his proposal, the MP cites the hospital flat-rate model. The patient's financial contribution to their hospital stay has been set at €20 per day since 2018 (excluding health insurance).

To pay this "contribution", prisoners have three ways:

• through their remuneration for work carried out in detention
• by a levy on their personal assets
• through the resources of their descendants and ascendants

The amount of this contribution will be determined by decree of the Council of State. It must be adjusted according to the financial situation of each inmate and could represent up to 25% of the average daily cost of incarceration, estimated at 100 euros by the International Prison Observatory.

New prisons under construction

This return of prison fees is part of a broader policy of modernizing prisons. Gérald Darmanin has promised “additional resources” to build new prisons and improve the working conditions of prison officers, in a context marked by a resurgence of attacks against prisons .

According to a report by the Court of Auditors, an inmate costs the State an average of 105 euros per day . The minister therefore hopes that the sum raised through this new contribution will be allocated directly to improving the working conditions of staff, as he stated in a letter addressed to them.

A measure that exists elsewhere in Europe

France would not be an isolated case. Several European countries, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, already impose financial contributions on prisoners . According to MPs Éric Pauget and Christophe Naegelen, this measure "gives prisoners greater responsibility" and would "accelerate the renovation of places of deprivation of liberty that have become dilapidated."

Parliamentarians estimate that this participation could bring in up to 80 million euros per year , the equivalent of building a new prison housing 250 inmates.