European Court of Human Rights sentences France for holding more prisoners than capacity allows

By Alaattin Dogru

PARIS (AA) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) sentenced France on Thursday for holding more prisoners than capacity allows in prisons.

Three ex-prisoners in Fresnes Prison in the south of Paris won their case filed against France due to the intensity in the prison where they were held from 2016 - 2019. According to the decision announced by the ECHR,

The court found the detention of the three prisoners, two of them French, in a prison with a 197% occupancy rate in 2019 violated Articles 3 and 13 of the ECHR.

The first of the articles said: "No one shall be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment," and the second stipulates that "every individual whose rights and freedoms are violated, even by official authorities, shall be given the right to apply to the authority that will protect him/her."

The ECHR, which had previously sentenced France in a different case in 2020 for a similar situation, sentenced France to pay €46,000 ($50,000) to the three plaintiffs on grounds it saw no reason to reach a different conclusion.

The court also said the application of the convicts to the ECHR without exhausting domestic remedies was unlawful.

While the density in the prisons has increased to 120%, there are 15,000 prisoners who have more than quota, according to information from French media based on data from the Ministry of Justice.