Minister denounces 'deplorable' Tahiti prison

7:29 am on 23 July 2019
Nuutania jail, French Polynesia

Nuutania jail, French Polynesia Photo: Supplied

The French justice minister has denounced what she's called the deplorable state of the main prison on Tahiti.

As part of her visit to French Polynesia, Nicole Belloubet committed to renovate Nu'utania prison, which is at 150 percent capacity.

Ms Belloubet described conditions as unacceptable for both staff and inmates, with some 10-by-12 metre cells packed with four people.

She's been told the territory's prisons are bursting at the seams with the increase of drug trafficking in French Polynesia, with the rise of methamphetamine in particular.