À la recherche de la concurrence. L’État au défi de la privatisation de ses prisons

This article is based on a study of the relationship between the French prison administration and its private service providers within the public-private partnerships introduced in prisons during the 1990s. It sheds light on the unexpected effects of the privatization process of a public service. While many studies have highlighted the expansion of the market within the public sector, the case of the Ministry of Justice reveals the ambivalent dynamics of a hoped-for but not fully realized commodification. On the one hand, the state co-constructed the market system with private companies in order to perpetuate their presence in this strategic sector and to ensure a minimum of competition. On the other hand, despite increased dependence on the oligopoly of service providers that has developed over the years, the state is trying to maintain its position as regulator and decision-maker within its prisons by increasing its control over its service providers. This tension between dependence and control results in a regulatory policy that is partly contrary to the economic beliefs that motivated the privatization of prisons in the first place. It reflects the contradictions and divergent interests within the administration which, as it puts public policy into action, draws on the myth of the market and its virtues.