OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FRENCH CGLPL a number of sustainable solutions. 2/ Overcrowding cannot in itself be defined, independently of any analysis of the facts, as an infringement of prisoners’ fundamental rights. However, the considerable worsening of conditions of existence and the breakdowns that can result therefrom with regard to personal and collective life within each institution can lead to such infringements, as both national judges and the European Court of Human Rights have ruled. In the reports handed over to the authorities, the Contrôle général has often called attention to this aspect. 3/ This is not the first time that French prisons have suffered from this difficulty. In the past, institutions were even fuller than they are today. Overcrowding is a chronic problem within them. For twentyfive years, the number of prisoners has continually been greater than the number of available places, with the exception of a balance attained at the beginning of this century. However, rapid growth in recent months constitutes a worrying trend and makes it necessary to identify the causes of this phenomenon in the most precise manner possible. The increase in the prison population does not reflect national demographic growth. The former is much more rapid than the latter. Above all, it is necessary to thoroughly rid oneself of the common idea that the number of prison inmates is linked to the state of crime in the country and that the greater the increase in the crime rate the fuller the prisons become (and moreover, as a consequence, that a higher number of prisoners constitutes more conclusive proof of levels of insecurity). The relation between the latter and the prison population is very indirect. Moreover, the observed number of indictable offences and serious crimes (the only source of criminal convictions and therefore of imprisonment) for every 1'000 inhabitants has fallen continuously over recent years (51.7 in 2001, 34.8 in 2010).65 Almost twenty-four thousand persons were on remand or serving sentences in France at 1st May 2012. If from this number one removes those serving their sentences in whole or in part under various different regimes on the outside, there remain more than sixty-seven thousand persons in permanent detention for a total of more fifty'Criminality in France', Report of the Observatoire national de la délinquance et des réponses pénales (French National Supervisory Body on Crime and Punishment) for 2011; Report of the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté for 2011. 65 120