Recent reforms of prison work in France: Stepping stones on the way to equal rights

Abstract

This contribution focuses on the limits to equality that continue to prevail in French law as far as prison workers are concerned. After taking stock of the progress towards equality accomplished in recent reforms, it sheds light on blocks of resistance to the movement towards equal rights. The contributions proposes a typology of arguments that are used to deprive prison workers of social rights and explores grounds that could serve to reverse this traditional approach, and justify buttressing prison workers’ social rights.