Chapter 6 Places of deprivation of liberty in France: statistics By Nicolas FISCHER44 CNRS - Centre for sociological research on law and penal institutions This data uses principal statistical sources including data on measures of deprivation of liberty and the persons concerned. Sources were described in more detail in section 10 of the Contrôleur général of places of deprivation of liberty’s reports for 2009 and 2011. Changes noted were commented upon in these reports to which the reader is invited to refer. As for the other reports, this edition updates the same basic data on the basis of availability of the various sources. The tables or graphs are accompanied by informative notes on methods and short comments. Bringing together in one single document data relating to the deprivation of liberty in the penal area (custody and incarceration), in the health area (psychiatric care without consent) and in the area of deportation of foreign nationals (the execution of measures and detention in illegal immigration centres) should not mask the fact that there are important differences in statistical concepts characterising them. It is still important to ask oneself what sort of numbering methods are being used: moving from liberty to deprivation of liberty (flows of persons or measures) or indeed counting persons deprived of their liberty at any given moment. One well understands that the connection between the two is not at all the same according to the areas which arise and from the duration of deprivation of liberty which differs widely for remand, detention, illegal immigrant detention or care under constraint. It is not possible with the state of the available sources to make a parallel of these sizes for the various places of deprivation of liberty in a single table. 44 The author warmly thanks Bruno Aubusson de Cavarlay (CNRS-Cesdip), author of the statistics shown in the previous reports, for his advice and precious help. This chapter is an update of the statistical series that he created, and also includes comments that he suggested. 115