You may only be punished using penalties which are provided for under the law. The law must clearly state the particular sanction which can be imposed for a specific violation.
According to French law, there are several types of disciplinary penalties that can be applied to you such as:
- a warning
- prohibiting you from receiving money from outside the prison, for maximum 2 months
- prohibiting you from buying things from the prison shop ((except toiletries, correspondence kit, and tobacco) for maximum 2 months
- prohibiting you from participating in cultural/physical/leisure activities for maximum one month
- prohibition on the use of any device bought or rented at the prison (your personal radio, computer or TV etc.)
- community service (cleaning cells or common spaces, doing repair work) which cannot last for more than 40 hours)
- confinement in your ordinary cell
- solitary confinement
You can only be punished by one of these sanctions for the same violation. However, you can also be suspended or excluded from your work or a training course in addition to one of the sanctions mentioned above.
The most severe penalty is placement in solitary confinement. Read more about solitary confinement.
Prohibited sanctions
The list of sanctions provided by the French law is exhaustive, so no other sanctions can be applied to you except the ones mentioned above.
This means that certain restrictions and measures must never be used as a punishment. These include:
- corporal punishment
- physical restraints
- food deprivation
- overly long solitary confinement
- placement in a cell with inadequate living conditions
- payment of a sum of money
- deprivation of correspondence, visits, ability to read
What human rights violation may there be?
Prohibition against inhumane or degrading treatment
The improper application of a disciplinary penalty such as solitary confinement may lead to a violation of your right not to be treated in an inhumane or degrading way or even torture. Read more about solitary confinement.
Private and family life
The unlawful application of disciplinary measures such as a ban on correspondence and visits may also violate your right to a private and family life.
example If you are prohibited from seeing your child for several months or from writing to your husband or wife, it will most likely violate your right to a family life.
How to complain
If you believe that the head of the prison has applied an unlawful disciplinary measure, you should complain to the Interregional Director of Prison Services. For more information, read the section on Disciplinary procedure.
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