Following an application filed by associations and professional unions, the Conseil d'État has ruled that the ban imposed on organising "provocative" activities by the Minister of Justice is legal insofar as such activities are likely to undermine the respect due to victims. However, it overturned, on principle, the ban on all recreational activities as contrary to the French Prisons Code.
In an instruction dated 19 February 2025, the Minister of Justice determined a framework for the activities that can be offered to prisoners, prohibiting the organisation of any “recreational or provocative" activities. Associations and unions asked the Conseil d'État to overturn this ban.
The French Prisons Code states that the prison administration must organise activities for convicted prisoners with a view to their rehabilitation. It also authorises the participation of all inmates, under the supervision of a prison officer, in group activities or games that exclude any notion of profit or reward.
On the one hand, the Conseil d'État noted that the Minister's directive pertained to activities organised by the prison administration and, as such, could not be interpreted as prohibiting detainees from participating in games conducted under the conditions set out in the French Prisons Code. It also emphasised that while the Minister of Justice may set the conditions for activities organised by the prison administration, it cannot, on principle, prohibit activities that comply with the Prisons Code merely because they are recreational.
On the other hand, the Conseil d'État ruled that the ban on "provocative" activities is lawful, as it targets activities that, due to their nature, the selection of participants, or the way they are conducted, are likely to undermine the respect owed to victims.
On these grounds, the Conseil d'État annulled the word “recreational” in the Minister of Justice's instruction dated 19 February 2025.