As part of the Jubilee of Prisoners, on December 13 and 14, 2025, the Bishops of France published this text on the prison situation in France to invite Catholics and all people of goodwill to commit to serving hope for prisoners.

This year 2025 is a jubilee year. This tradition originates from an ancient call from the Word of God, where at regular intervals an "year of clemency and liberation" was announced for the people. Jesus Christ himself adopted it when starting his public life: "The Lord has sent me to bring good news to the humble, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, liberation to prisoners..." (Is 61,1-2). "Hope does not disappoint!" Pope Francis wanted the celebration of this jubilee year to invite all those who are afflicted to remain hopeful. Those in prison are part of it, and December 14 has been chosen to celebrate the Jubilee in detention.

Today, prison overcrowding has reached a historic level in France. It contributes to deteriorated conditions - a sense of humiliation, increased violence and idleness, a loss of meaning in work for correctional officers. It prevents incarcerated individuals from becoming "better" than when they entered prison, thereby generating more recidivism than security. Prison is the most costly sanction for society, not only financially but in terms of recidivism. Any measure aiming to increase the prison population goes against the security of our fellow citizens.

While Justice must legitimately sanction crimes and offenses, the law establishes the principle of punishment aiming to prevent their recurrence and to reintegrate their perpetrators. Viewing punishment only as a harmful reprimand would reduce it to dehumanizing rather than uplifting. Choosing to restore those who have failed in their humanity by helping them assume responsibility and contemplate a new future is in the interest of society, starting with the victims. Overflowing prisons destroy; they do not just imprison convicts behind walls but in hopeless decline as if nothing more could be expected from them.

On the occasion of the Jubilee of detainees, we want to remind everyone that every human being is created in the image of God and the resulting dignity is inalienable, indestructible. No one can be reduced to the act they committed, whatever it may be. God’s revelation in Jesus Christ tells us He gives of His own self to rescue us from the power of evil. The Gospel shows us on every page Jesus welcoming sinners, dining with them, lifting them up.

Our chaplains in detention testify that behind prison walls, the love of Christ uplifts, reconciles, and opens to hope. Faith in a God crucified between two criminals to free us from the vicious cycle of our violence cannot accept giving up on believing in the best within each person, despairing of others, a justice that would only punish without restoring, a sentence that offers no chance for the convicted person to aspire to their best self.

The Good News of the revelation in Jesus Christ is the redemption of humanity and transcends beyond the circle of believers, embracing the vision of a fraternal community embedded in our Republic's motto.

Faced with this alarming and worrying observation, we wish to address the political leaders and judges of our country so that we deliberately engage on new paths to exercise justice and condemn those who commit offenses or even crimes. The "all-prison" approach is a dead end. There are other ways to sanction while truly respecting the dignity of individuals and enabling behavioral change.

We call not only Catholics, but also all men and women of goodwill, to not give up on the prospect of an inclusive fraternity which is the foundation of our society, to resist mistrust, to reject others. Despairing of others leads to a hellish world made of increasing exclusion and violence, a society increasingly fractured.

Let us cultivate trust, take care of those who need to be uplifted. Hope does not disappoint!

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille, President of the Conference of Bishops of France Mgr Denis Jachiet, Bishop of Belfort-Montbéliard, President of the Commission for Dialogue, Common Good, and Social Friendship Mgr Jean-Luc Brunin, Bishop of Le Havre, Referent Bishop of the Catholic Prison Chaplaincy Bruno Lachnitt, General Chaplain of the Catholic Prison Chaplaincy