R4: Beyond mass incarceration. Les Jeunes Écologistes

Beyond mass incarceration: towards a transformation of justice systems in Europe

Preamble

Justice lies at the core of the political project of the Federation of Young
European Greens (FYEG) and its member organisations. As such, prisons cannot
remain a political blind spot. Whether we like it or not, they are one the
cornerstones of our judicial systems in Europe. We believe that the way
societies deprive individuals of liberty reflects their understanding of
justice, dignity and democracy. As such, the situation is particularly worrying
in Europe at the moment. The European Parliament has highlighted persistent
shortcomings in detention conditions, which may violate fundamental rights and
undermine trust between judicial systems. Additionally, European data shows that
a significant number of prison systems operate under conditions of overcrowding.
ECHR decisions regarding the right to dignity of prisoners periodically
illustrate the structural tendency of bad treatments, racists behaviours and
negation of social and civic rights of prisoners (Ştefănoaia, 2025).

This situation is not merely the result of technical failures. It reflects the
structural limits of a penal model that continues to rely on incarceration as a
primary response to social, economic and political issues that it fails to
resolve sustainably. FYEG already supports alternatives to imprisonment,
rehabilitation and reintegration. This resolution aims to deepen this commitment
by developing a political analysis of the European carceral system and promoting
concrete and transformative alternatives, as almost 500 000 people were
incarcerated in Europe in 2023 (Eurostat, 2025).

Following Pierre Kropotkin, “You can’t improve a prison.” (Kropotkine, 1887).
The goal here is not to suggest minor changes to make it a little worse, but to
find another path regarding the way actions that are undermining our
communities' well-being must be dealt with. Indeed, some actions or deficiencies
done by individuals are indubitably detrimental to our communities. We can’t
just demand the abolition of prisons without considering a serious political
answer beyond it.

Political Analysis

The current European carceral system is not a neutral instrument of justice. It
is shaped by political, economic and institutional choices that determine who is
punished, how, and why. As Angela Davis underlines, prisons seem to be an
“inevitable and permanent feature of our social lives” (Davis, 2003); it is
important to denaturalise this way of doing justice. Prisons are the symptom of
a broader failure: societies addressing social vulnerabilities through
punishment rather than prevention, care, redistribution and inclusion. It relies
on a systemic shift happening since the end of the XVIIIth Century, with the aim
to discipline society (Foucault, 1977). The failure is therefore systemic, not
limited to the prison system itself.

European data shows that incarceration rates vary significantly between
countries and do not directly correlate with crime levels. This confirms that
imprisonment is primarily a political choice.

Carceral systems reproduce and intensify existing inequalities. They
disproportionately affect working-class individuals, racialised communities and
those facing social or psychological vulnerability. An intersectional
perspective reveals how these dynamics are embedded in broader power structures.

Furthermore, prison systems often fail to achieve their stated goals.
Overcrowding, poor detention conditions and difficulties in reintegration
highlight the structural limitations of incarceration as a central policy
response.

For young generations, this issue is critical. It raises a fundamental question:
whether Europe will continue to rely on punitive systems, or move towards models
based on prevention, social justice and human dignity. These factors can only
lead us to adopt a clear and radical anti-prison stance. However, our political
responsibility means we cannot stop at this observation alone; we must also put
forward concrete solutions.

European prison systems are reaching a breaking point. Overcrowding, degrading
conditions and policy inefficiencies demonstrate the limits of a punitive model.

We call on European institutions, governments, political actors and civil
society to engage in a structural transformation of justice systems. This
requires moving beyond incremental reforms and rethinking responses to harm
through dignity, prevention and social justice.

On the fringes, some experiments show that another approach is possible. For
instance, the Scottish Government decided to drastically reduce short prison
sentences, and instead focus on prevention policies to reduce reoffending. It
relies on Community Payback Orders and providing good health treatment and
accommodation to the convicted person (Freeman & Glyn, 2016). Nordic Countries
(Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway), where the imprisonment rate is the lowest
in Europe, have developed several alternatives to imprisonment, through
Community Sanctions like community service or treatment orders (Lappi-Seppälä,
2019).

While these examples still rely on the idea of governing bodies and behaviours
(, it gets out of the prison-centric penal system, which is a first step towards
a prison-free Europe. For our generation, the choice is clear: building a Europe
that protects without reproducing inequality.

Call to action

We as Federation of Young European Greens call to:

We, the Federation of Young European Greens, call for:

Member States to:

The European Union to:

The Council of Europe and monitoring bodies to:

The Green political family to:

FYEG Member Organisations to:

References

Davis, Angela Y. 2003. Are Prisons Obsolete? Open Media Ser. Seven Stories
Press.

Eurostat. 2025. « Prison capacity and number of persons held ».
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/CRIM_PRIS_CAP__custom_16514342/de-
fault/table?lang=en.

Freeman, Ruth, & Glyn Lloyd. 2016. « A research approach to support the
empowerment of alternatives to prison ». Rivista di Criminologia, Vittimologia e
Sicurezza, n^o X, 3, 2016 (décembre). https://doi.org/10.14664/rcvs/635.

Foucault, Michel. 1977. Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison. Pantheon
Books.

Kropotkin, Petr Alekseevich. 1887. In Russian and French Prisons. University of
California Libraries. London, Ward and Downey.
http://archive.org/details/inrussianfrenchp00kroprich.

Ştefănoaia, Mihai. 2025. « Criminal Justice and Human Dignity: A European
Perspective on the Limits of Punitive Power in Light of ECHR Jurisprudence ».
European Journal of Law and Public Administration 12 (1): 69‑77.