Living conditions in French prisons have long been a source of embarrassment for the government, with Mr Macron himself once describing them as “disgraceful”.
The French President has now announced a series of court overhauls aimed at remedying chronic prison overcrowding amid protests by wardens over violent inmates and deteriorating conditions.
With some 70,000 inmates – the equivalent of 100 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants –, France’s prison population is one of the largest in Europe.
In addition, there are on average 115 inmates per 100 cells.
To tackle overcrowding, Mr Macron pledged to scrap prison sentences of less than one month, adding that those shorter than one year would no longer be applied “automatically”.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
Sentences between one month and six months will be mostly served at home with electronic tagging, reducing jail capacity needs.
Mr Macron added that minor offences such as drug use or driving infractions would be punished with on-the-spot fines and community service rather than jail time.
In addition, some 1,500 jobs will be created to reinforce probation and re-insertion programmes.
Mr Macron, in an address at a penitentiary training centre in Agen, said: “I believe that few people given terms of less than six months are truly dangerous for society.
“Prison sentences are not there to respond to society’s emotions… A convicted individual is meant to return to society.”
He added prisons sometimes created “monsters”.
Sentences of one year or more will have to be served in jail, he said, stressing that “a punishment has to be credible and understood”.
The 40-year-old centrist also pledged to build 7,000 new cells over the course of his five-year term, which is less than the 15,000 he promised during his campaign.
The prison reform comes in the wake of a spate of attacks by radicalised inmates in January that triggered nationwide protests by guards exasperated by the escalation of violence and lack of security in French jails.
The protests ended when the government announced a package worth €30 million (£26.7 million) for better training and pay and promised to step up efforts to isolate radical Islamists from other prisoners.