NUMBER OF PRISONERS (OPINION) so that prisons are only able to accommodate numbers of inmates that correspond to the number of places they possess? Apart from the fact that the latter is, as already mentioned, relatively flexible, it appears highly delicate to make committal to prison or the shortening of sentences dependent upon practical factors devoid of any relation with the principles governing criminal law, the offender’s personality and the seriousness of the act committed, and carries the risk of endangering the principle of sentencing according to defendants’ individual requirement, which the Constitutional Council (of France) draws from article 8 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.72 On the other hand, as the contrôle général has already observed, knowledge of the situation in prisons coming within the jurisdiction of courts among members of the national legal service within the State Prosecutor’s Office, may be an element for reflection with regard to prison committal intake flows. 7/ There is no single solution for putting right a state of fact, which nobody truly controls at present. On the contrary it requires a whole range of reflection and both long and short-term measures. 8/ Naturally, in the first place it is appropriate to question the economic and social effectiveness of current forms of imprisonment. This involves three considerations: the enforcement of sanctions – it is important pay attention thereto and, in this respect, the principle of enforcement of judicial decisions cannot be questioned; the security of persons and property; released prisoners’ capacity to lead their existence without committing offences; the latter two factors being connected. More practically speaking, one may ask the question of whether prison is effective, for example, in order for dependent drug addicts to free themselves from drug use having led them to commit repeated thefts. In doing so, the need for punishment is in no way called into question: this need can never be placed in doubt. The question is only concerned with the adaptation of its form to the offence committed. This question is all the more pertinent insofar as prisons, in spite of unquestionable progress, based upon numerous praiseworthy undertakings on the part of staff, are very lacking in resources as far See for example Conseil constitutionnel n°80-127 DC, 20 th January 1981 (Law reinforcing security, consid. 15 and 16) and n°2011-625 DC, 10 th March 2011 (LOPPSI, consid. 20, 21, 26 and 27). 72 125