OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE FRENCH CGLPL to prison; on the other hand, “road traffic violence” is now punished with imprisonment, which represents a change as compared with the recent past. Offences which were not prosecuted in the past now give rise to charges and, possibly, to the imprisonment of greater numbers of people than was previously the case. In the second place, the law has developed more rapid trial procedures and judges now give harsher sentences than in the past for similar offences. The prison population is therefore growing with numerous prisoners placed in detention, that is to say pending trial, for short sentences; however, it is also increasing “at the other end”, due to considerable growth in the number of long and very long sentences passed. In addition to these long term considerations, well-known specific measures, which have the result of making imprisonment easier through the introduction of mandatory sentencing, a common practice under Anglo-Saxon law, have been adapted in France by means of “minimum sentencing” measures. A report from the French Senate has pointed out that, pursuant to measures of this kind (the Californian Three-Strikes Law of 1994), an American citizen having committed similar previous offences ended up serving life imprisonment for the theft of a spare car wheel. In the third place, short-term measures can be a factor adding extra prisoners. Current overcrowding is partly explained by the efforts made in the courts, in the course of the last eighteen months, to ensure faster enforcement of (short) sentences passed, until then unevenly followed up due to overloading of the courts. These factors provide the principal explanation for the fact that, were current rulings to resemble those of forty years ago, all things being equal, the number of prisoners in French prisons would be approximately halved. 5/ The consequences of this situation are less well-known, apart from the ritually (but well-justified) mention made of mattresses on the ground.68 It naturally worsens lack of privacy and risks of conflict within cells; consolidates inactivity due to greater shortage of access to work and activities; reduces possibilities of dialogue and care on the part of prison officers and the possibility of relations (telephone, visiting room sessions) with the outside; reduces the effectiveness of In this field see the Report of the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté for 2008, pp.28-30. 68 122