French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has proposed transforming closed nursing homes for the elderly into prison facilities, to address France’s chronic prison overcrowding. Speaking on Monday morning, June 30th, Darmanin declared his commitment to expanding the country’s correctional capacity “by any means necessary.”
“Anything that can be done to requisition or carry out work to create prison places, I will do it,” Darmanin stated, supporting President Emmanuel Macron’s priority of resolving the notorious issues of France’s penal system.
“I also want to create prisons on a human scale for those who do not represent a danger to the outside world,” Darmanin added, highlighting that French prisons currently do not differentiate inmates based on dangerousness or threat to their other inmates.
In line with Macron’s earlier suggestion to rent prison spaces abroad, Darmanin confirmed that proposal is moving forward as well. France has already approached neighboring countries like Spain and Germany to explore the possibility of “rent[ing] a few hundred or even thousands of prison places on the border.” Darmanin acknowledged the need to overcome “legal obstacles, particularly European ones.”
