In France, the statistics compiled by the correctional administration define the prison population as including every person "on the prison register" in a correctional establishment. A person who is required to be on a prison register, however, may not be physically present in a prison; for example, a person on furlough on the data on which the statistic is based will be counted as in prison (still on the register). The same is true of prisoners who have been granted work release outside of prison. According to this rule, people who are electronically monitored are also counted as inmates. Conversely, being paroled entails removal from the prison register. The parolee is thus not counted in the prison population although he/she continues to serve a sentence of imprisonment, but outside the prison. This article proposes that the number of persons counted in the "prison population" consist of all those individuals serving pretrial detention, a sentence to "deprivation of liberty," or imprisonment for debt, irrespective of the way in which the measure or sanction is enforced. This means that persons who are being electronically monitored in the community in the pretrial stage or while on parole should be counted in the prison population. 14 references