Olympics
Ahead of Olympics, more prison spaces being prepared for violators
A police crackdown that aims to clear a poor suburb of petty crime and street vendors before the Paris 2024 Olympics is putting pressure on an overcrowded prison operating at almost double its capacity.
Villepinte is a grey, concrete detention centre in the suburb of Seine-Saint Denis. It lies 2.5 km from the Paris Arena Nord, set to host boxing and fencing competitions during the Games beginning on July 26.
It is among the most crowded prisons in France. Opened in 1991, Villepinte takes prisoners from the busy Bobigny courthouse nearby for pre-trial detention and short sentences.
“The penitentiary authority needs to prepare for the worst,” Eric Mathais, chief prosecutor at Bobigny, said in an interview.
Reducing inmate numbers ahead of the Olympics is unrealistic, Mathais said.
“We need to limit the number of people being imprisoned, but this is easier said than done as I am under extreme pressure from everyone to be clearly more repressive.”
Reuters interviewed thirteen prosecutors, judges, lawyers and clerks working in Bobigny court, who said that the Seine-Saint-Denis justice system was operating at the limits of its capacity and prosecuting increasingly minor infractions in preparation for the Games.
As of April 8, when Reuters visited Villepinte with local senator Corinne Narassiguin, there were 1,048 inmates for 582 places at the prison, according to director Pascal Spenle. The penitentiary cannot technically handle many more, Spenle said.
Reuters spoke to four inmates who described spending most of their days inside their cells, with up to three prisoners in cells designed for one, sharing a toilet and showering every other day. At least 17 prisoners were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, prison authorities said.
Yanis, a 20-year-old inmate, said he’d been on a waiting list for months for a prison work programme. One of his two cellmates, Adil, 25, said he had not met a reintegration councillor during seven months inside.
Prison doctor Ludovic Levasseur said he’d seen demand for mental health care rise in recent years while overcrowding meant long waiting lists for psychologists handling up to 60 patients each.
To avoid reaching breaking point, judges at Bobigny courthouse almost doubled the number of early releases from Villepinte and another prison last year, to nearly 500.
Still, Villepinte was operating at 180% of capacity in early April, from 177% in April last year and 168% the year before, data from the prison and Ministry of Justice shows.
Ahead of an expected surge in the Olympics build up, Spenle said, Villepinte plans to transfer inmates to other prisons, freeing up 220 places. In the longer term the prison will get a new wing, he said.
In a letter to French prosecutors dated 15 January, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti called for “fast, strong and systematic responses” to infractions that may disrupt the Games.
Spokesperson Cedric Logelin said the ministry was taking measures to reduce overcrowding and prevent crime during the Games. He said court decisions were independent.
“SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS”
Many of the Olympic events are being held in Seine-Saint-Denis. The region has the highest ratio of immigrants among France’s departments and is also the poorest.
Teachers have been on strike since February, saying schools in the area are under-resourced. Homeless and traveller populations have set up camps and squats in the department.
In some neighbourhoods, informal sellers line the streets.
Mohamed Gnabaly, mayor of Ile Saint Denis, a town in the area, said the Olympics had helped infrastructure and housing development delayed for years due to lack of investment.
However, Olivier Cahn, a sociologist at CESDIP, a French centre for research on law and prisons, said a reliance on policing and tough sentencing was disproportionately affecting the poor, migrant and homeless populations.
“All we have are short-term solutions,” said Cahn.
A zero-tolerance policing initiative launched last year that targets street crimes such as drug dealing and unlicensed selling in the area was adding to the prison population, prosecutor Mathais said.
Police deployed 4,000 extra officers in March and April, Seine-Saint-Denis police director of local security Michel Lavaud told reporters last week, calling it a clean up and saying the operation provided safety for locals and “tourists, audiences, the families of the athletes.”
“It is just the beginning, we are going to increase the intensity” ahead of the Games, Lavaud said.
The crackdown drew criticism from seven legal professionals Reuters spoke to.
Fouad Qnia, a defence lawyer at Bobigny, said heavy penalties for infractions such as unlicensed street selling were disproportionate and could further marginalise people in already vulnerable situations.
CIGARETTE SELLERS
The recent policing operation targeted street vendors, police chief Lavaud said, including nearly 200 illegal cigarette sellers, some of whom were imprisoned and more than half of whom were handed deportation orders.
In one case, on April 3, a Bobigny judge ordered an Algerian man who moved to France two years ago to refrain from entering Seine-Saint-Denis for six months, including for the duration of the Games, after he was convicted of selling eight packets of cigarettes on the street.
He had previously been handed a suspended prison sentence and will face two months in jail, likely in Villepinte, if he is caught again in Seine-Saint-Denis or selling tobacco, assigned defence lawyer Jade Paya said, declining to name the man.
“They are in need. They don’t sell cigarettes because they like doing it,” she said.
Villepinte houses more than thirty nationalities, deputy director David Langelois said. He said the number of foreign inmates was high due to detentions at the nearby Charles de Gaulle airport and the demographic makeup of Seine-Saint-Denis.
Foreigners were 21% of France’s prison population in 2020, whereas they were just 10% of the general population, according to national statistics. France does not keep ethnic statistics, but some sociological studies attest to an over-representation of Black and Arab men in prisons.
Senator Narassiguin said people of colour faced heavier policing and harsh penalties for petty street crime. Ministry of Justice spokesperson Logelin said court sentences were based on individual cases. He declined to comment on the ratio of foreign prisoners.
BRIMMING PRISONS
France has the most overcrowded prisons in Europe after Romania and Cyprus, with its prison population growing faster in 2022 than anywhere in the bloc other than Slovenia, data from the Council of Europe shows.
Nationally, French prisons have never been fuller, Ministry of Justice data shows.
The Council of Europe expressed “deep concern” last month at the worsening overcrowding.
To deal with the caseload it expects during the games, the Bobigny court is preparing to pile on fast-track trials, which the International Prison Observatory (OIP) says are eight times more likely to end in a prison sentence than standard trials.
The use of fast-track procedures has gradually risen in recent years, justice ministry data shows, and has helped drive France’s prison overcrowding, said OIP researcher Johann Bihr.
The limited access to activities and support inside prisons because of overcrowding complicates reintegration into society, said charity Emergence 93, which works with former detainees.
Adding to the strain, during the Olympics, two car washes run by Emergence 93 that employ former prisoners in Seine-Saint-Denis will be forced to close. One car wash is in a shopping mall car park closed during the Games, the other on a site rented to the Japanese delegation.
Emergence 93 social worker Manuel Chajmowiez said the charity had asked Games organizers to allow ex-prisoners to clean some of a fleet of 500 cars provided for athletes and officials, but had not heard back.
“For now we have no work to offer,” Chajmowiez said.
-Reuters
Olympics
Two Years To LA28: U.S. Consul General Links Olympics And World Cup To America’s ‘Decade of Sports’
BY KUNLE SOLAJA, NEW YORK.
As the FIFA World Cup 2026 enters its final week in the United States, attention is turning to another major sporting milestone, with this Tuesday, July 14, marking exactly two years until the opening of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The countdown highlights what U.S. officials have described as the country’s “Decade of Sports” It is a period during which the United States is hosting some of the world’s biggest sporting events.
The significance of the moment was underscored last month by U.S. Consul General in Lagos, Rick Swart, during a pre-departure orientation programme organised for Nigerian journalists travelling to cover the FIFA World Cup in North America.
Speaking at the event, Swart described both the ongoing FIFA World Cup and the forthcoming Los Angeles Olympics as key pillars of America’s long-term sporting vision.
Diplomacy and experience: U.S. Consul General Rick Swart with Nigerian sports journalist Kunle Solaja
According to the diplomat, the World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games form part of a broader programme that showcases the United States as a global destination for major international sports competitions.
“The World Cup is happening within the period of our independence celebrations. This will be the biggest July 4 celebration we will be having,” Swart told the journalists.
His comments have taken on renewed relevance as the World Cup nears its conclusion and the countdown to LA28 reaches the symbolic two-year mark.
Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics from July 14 to July 30, 2028, returning the Games to the city for the third time after previously staging them in 1932 and 1984.
The Olympics will follow a series of major international sporting events hosted by the United States, reinforcing the concept of a “Decade of Sports” that includes the FIFA World Cup and several other global championships.
For organisers, the World Cup has served as an important rehearsal for future events, testing stadium operations, transportation systems, security arrangements and fan engagement strategies on a nationwide scale.
As football fans focus on the remaining World Cup semi-finals and final, American sports planners are already looking ahead to welcoming the world once again in Los Angeles.
With exactly two years remaining until the Olympic flame is lit, the transition from World Cup host to Olympic host is already underway, further cementing the United States’ place at the centre of global sport during what officials describe as its historic “Decade of Sports.”
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA, NEW YORK
Nigeria’s present and future Olympians are set to benefit from a landmark financial support programme after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that every athlete who competes at the Olympic Games will receive a grant of US$10,000 (about ₦15 million at current exchange rates) under its newly introduced “Fit for the Future Olympian Grant.”
The initiative, approved during the opening day of the IOC Session in Lausanne on June 24, marks a significant shift in Olympic policy, as it is the first time the Olympic body has introduced a universal financial benefit for all Games participants regardless of their performance or medal haul.
For Nigerian athletes, many of whom often struggle with inadequate funding before and after major international competitions, the grant is expected to provide a welcome financial cushion. The IOC said the programme would be available to every Olympian, irrespective of country or finishing position.
Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, Pau Gasol, said the grant is designed to recognise the value of simply qualifying for and competing at the Olympic Games.
“All Olympians, no matter where they’re from and regardless of where they finish, will be entitled to the grant,” said the former Spanish basketball star.
Gasol stressed that the payment should not be viewed as prize money but rather as recognition of the sacrifices athletes make in representing their countries at the world’s biggest sporting event.
“It is acknowledging the importance and relevance of being an Olympian, participating and representing your sport and your country at the Games,” he explained.
The IOC has committed US$140 million to the programme during each four-year Olympic cycle.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry said the grants would not reduce the revenue shares allocated to National Olympic Committees or International Federations.
She described the US$10,000 payment as an amount capable of helping athletes launch new ventures, continue their education or serve as “seed money” for life after sport.
“The amount was considered acceptable worldwide and could help someone start something or simply provide a financial foundation,” Coventry said.
The announcement is particularly significant for Nigerian athletes, who have repeatedly raised concerns over inadequate welfare, delayed allowances and limited post-career support despite representing the country at the Olympic Games.
The grant will apply to all Olympic competitors, including professional athletes from sports such as basketball, tennis and ice hockey. However, the IOC clarified that Paralympians are not covered by the programme.
Athletes who competed at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year will also be eligible once the application process is completed.
The initiative comes amid increasing calls for the IOC to provide direct financial rewards to competitors. The debate intensified after World Athletics became the first international sports federation to introduce Olympic prize money at the Paris 2024 Games, awarding US$50,000 to every athletics gold medallist.
Although the IOC insists the new grant is not prize money, the move is widely regarded as a historic step towards greater financial recognition for Olympians worldwide.
During the Lausanne Session, the IOC also approved amendments to the Olympic Charter, including a stronger commitment to political neutrality, while discussions continue over the future participation of Russia in the Olympic Movement.
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Nigeria’s Super Falcons will face a confident and free-scoring Comoros side in the next round of the women’s football qualifiers for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games after the island nation completed a staggering 30-0 aggregate demolition of Sudan.
Comoros sealed their passage to the next stage with a 13-0 victory in the second leg of their first-round tie, having already recorded a commanding win in the opening match. The result saw the Coelacanthes score an extraordinary 30 goals across the two legs without conceding a single goal.
The emphatic triumph has generated excitement around the rapidly improving Comoros women’s national team, but a much sterner examination now awaits against Africa’s most successful women’s football nation.
Nigeria, ten-time African champions and one of the continent’s traditional powerhouses, enter the next round as overwhelming favourites. However, Comoros’ remarkable scoring exploits against Sudan suggest they will arrive with growing confidence and belief.
The Coelacanthes dominated both encounters from start to finish, displaying clinical finishing and defensive solidity that left Sudan with no answer. Their tally of 30 goals over two matches represents an astonishing average of 15 goals per game.
For Nigeria, the fixture will mark the beginning of another quest for Olympic qualification after missing out on the women’s football tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Super Falcons, who recently impressed in their international friendly victories over Senegal in Ikenne, boast vastly greater experience and pedigree than their upcoming opponents. The nine-time Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions have consistently been among the continent’s strongest teams and remain Africa’s highest-ranked women’s national side.
Comoros coach Youssouf Abdallah has described his team’s performances against Sudan as evidence of the progress being made within the squad, but the encounter with Nigeria will provide a true measure of their development.
While Comoros’ record-breaking victory has captured attention across African football, the challenge of overcoming Nigeria represents a significant leap in quality. The Super Falcons have traditionally dominated lower-ranked African opponents and will be expected to continue their march towards a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The dates for the second-round qualifiers are expected to be confirmed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), with the winners advancing further in the race for a place at the Olympic Games in the United States.
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