As far back as October 1992, the French Penal system has been castigated by the European Commission for Human Rights for the serious overcrowding. In 2005, during a 16-day visit to France, the then Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles said of a section of Paris’s La Santé prison, “In my whole life, apart from perhaps Moldova, I have never seen a center worse than that one.” But the overcrowding has worsened since former Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy ascended to the president’s office in May 2007, and brought his tough, law-and-order approach with him.

A report given by france24 in August this year stated that the French Prison system is broken after 80 prisoners had committed suicide in 2009 (to date).  Dr Louis Albrand is leading a group of experts to look into the matter. Their report was expected in October.

Meanwhile, back in Britain, a report from the BBC (5 December 2007) quoted the Justice Secretary Jack Straw as stating that “Three “super-prisons” each housing about 2,500 offenders are to be built”

These recently issued photographs show details of just one of these “super prisons” recently completed.

In Prison all expenses are paid by the tax payer and no work is required.  At work you get to pay all your expenses to go to work and they deduct tax from your salary to pay for the prison and the inmates.

Your family and friends are allowed to visit you when in prison.  Whilst at work, you should not be talking to your family and friends.

If you behave well in prison, you may get time off.  If you behave well at work, you may get more work.

Prisoners get three meals a day, for which they do not pay.  If you can get a break for a meal at work, you have to pay for it yourself.

You spend the majority of your time in prison in a 10×10 cell.  The majority of people at work are lucky if the get a 6×6 cubicle or office in which to spend time.

The prison guard will lock and un-lock all the doors for you.  Many work places require that you carry a security card and you have to open the doors for yourself.

You may watch TV and play games whilst in prison.  Playing games or watching TV whilst at work could get you fired.

In this prison you get your own toilet.  At work you get to share a toilet with others, some of whom may pee on the seat.

Prison means that you get to spend time behind bars, whereas in work you can’t wait to get out and find a bar in which to spend time.

On the down side, in prison you may have to deal with sadistic wardens… at work they’re called Managers.

And people wonder why so many Refugees fleeing to Western Europe spend so much time and energy, taking so many risks, in an effort to get across the Channel to Britain.