It's an open secret. Senegalese prisons are bursting at the seams. According to statistics reported by the Ministry of Justice, the prison population is estimated at 15,267 inmates (as of August 18, 2025), while the capacity of the 37 penitentiary establishments is 4,924 places, representing an occupancy rate of 262%.

Faced with this overcrowding, which no longer guarantees minimum detention conditions, Alioune Tine does not understand why the judicial administration is reluctant to apply alternative sentences that are nevertheless provided for in the texts. The leading figure in the defense of human rights pleaded, in a message published on X, for the "democratization" of the electronic bracelet which, in his opinion, seems to be reserved for "exceptional people."

"What is the point of electronic bracelets purchased to relieve congestion in overcrowded prisons where some inmates live in conditions that indecently violate human dignity? If there are still lingering traces of colonialism in our archaic, repressive, and inhumane penal policy, you simply have to visit our prisons to be enlightened. It is scandalous that in a country like Senegal, we still find the 'Paketasse', where inmates live in conditions worse than slaves in the holds of slave ships," he immediately says.

Before adding that: "Electronic bracelets as an alternative to imprisonment should not be used exceptionally for exceptional people. Therefore, it must be democratized and as much space as possible freed up for prisons where people are suffocating."

Still striving to further humanize prisons, Alioune Tine also advocates the creation of "fields and villages to allow prisoners to work." According to him, "we urgently need to develop a policy for prisons that promotes life and the rule of law."