French prison administration

France's prison administration awarded €34m of counter-drone framework contracts in a notice published on 13 October 2026. NUANCES TECHNOLOGIES won the detection, characterisation and neutralisation lot, worth up to €31.5m, and INEO INFRACOM the handheld detectors and portable jammers lot, worth up to €2.5m. Unlike France's military drone buys that month, both lots went to competition.

The service became the Direction générale de l'administration pénitentiaire (DGAP) on 1 February 2026, replacing the former directorate, with Sébastien Cauwel as director-general. It has more than 45,000 staff, 186 prisons and 103 probation services, and the justice ministry calls it the country's third internal-security force.

Drones deliver phones and contraband into French jails, and the ministry treats drone drops as a prison-security priority. In February 2026 it said 58 prisons had anti-drone systems and 19 more would be installed by the end of March 2026. Some senators have argued that prison jammers are costly, interfere with other electronics and have limited range, and have urged nets or wires instead.