According to figures released by the French Ministry of Justice, in 2018 France is facing an unprecedented number of inmates in the history of its penitentiary system.
This surge is explained exclusively by the increase of pretrial detentions and short sentences, and it runs up against the capacity of the French penitentiary structures.

In March 2018, Paolo Pellegrin photographed Fleury-Mérogis prison, in the southern suburbs of Paris.
With more than 4,100 prisoners, it is the largest prison in Europe.
Built in 1962, the prison of Fleury-Mérogis hosts the accused (detained persons awaiting trial) as well as convicts whose sentence or remnants of sentence do not exceed, in principle, two years at the time of their final conviction.

Paolo portraited its architecture and the humanity contained within it.

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