Title VI: Judicial restraint

In the event of voluntary non-compliance with one or more fines imposed in criminal or correctional cases for an offence punishable by imprisonment, including in the event of voluntary non-compliance with tax or customs fines, the sentence enforcement judge may order, under the conditions set out in this Title, a judicial restraint consisting of imprisonment, the duration of which is set by this magistrate within the limit of a maximum…

The maximum duration of the judicial constraint is set as follows:

Judicial restraint may not be imposed on persons who were minors at the time of the offence, nor on persons aged sixty-five or over at the time of conviction.

Judicial restraint may not be imposed on convicted persons who, by any means, prove their insolvency.

It cannot be exercised simultaneously against the husband and wife, even for the recovery of sums relating to different sentences.

It may not be exercised until five days after a summons has been served on the convicted person at the request of the pursuing party. In the event that the judgment of condemnation has not previously been served on the debtor, the summons shall bear at the head an extract from this judgment, which shall contain the names of the parties and the operative part. In the light of the…

In accordance with the dispositions de l’article L. 216-1 du code pénitentiaire, la contrainte judiciaire est subie en établissement pénitentiaire, dans le quartier à ce destiné.

Individuals against whom the constraint has been pronounced may prevent or cease its effects either by paying or depositing a sum sufficient to extinguish their debt, or by providing a surety recognised as good and valid. The surety is accepted by the competent public accountant. In the event of a dispute, it shall be declared, if appropriate, good and valid by the president of the judicial court acting by way…

When the judicial restraint has ended for any reason, it may no longer be exercised either for the same debt or for convictions prior to its execution, unless these convictions entail by their quantum a longer restraint than that already undergone, in which case the first incarceration must always be deducted from the new restraint.

The detained debtor is subject to the same regime as convicted prisoners, without, however, being required to work.