The administrative court of French Polynesia has ordered the French state to pay four inmates a total of $US14,000 for being locked up in inhuman conditions.
The ruling follows several others related to the situation at Tahiti's Nuutania jail which is the most crowded run by France.
Nuutania jail, French Polynesia Photo: Supplied
More than a hundred prisoners had earlier been allocated compensation of about half a million US dollars for being locked up in unworthy and degrading circumstances.
The jail holds about three times the number of people it was built for, with up to four prisoners sharing nine-square metre cells.
A new prison, which cost almost $US100 million, will open in Tahiti next year.