A remand center offers sentence reductions to inmates vaccinated against Covid-19



Are all the means available to encourage people to be vaccinated against Covid-19? In the eyes of the Sarreguemines remand center (Moselle), the objective of collective immunity visibly justifies offering reductions in sentences to inmates agreeing to be vaccinated, according to a document that 20 minutes was able to consult.

In a “note to inmates on the vaccine campaign against Covid-19 and obtaining RSP [réduction de peine] “, Dated August 10, 2021, the vice-president in charge of the application of sentences explains to have” decided, in agreement, with […] the public prosecutor, that all detainees who will be vaccinated against [le] Covid-19 will benefit, from the September 2021 sentencing committee, automatically for the study of their file for the year 2021 from all of their additional reductions in potential penalties, however, within the limit of 2 months additional reduction of sentence. ”

“Prisoners who have received their two doses of vaccine must immediately send their vaccination certificate given by the health unit to the registry of the remand center in order to be heard at the next useful penalty enforcement committee”, continues this note of the establishment receiving defendants awaiting trial or detainees with a prison sentence of less than 2 years.

A note that poses a “serious ideological problem”

It specifies, however, that certain prisoners are excluded from “this exceptional device”: “prisoners convicted of acts committed within the family sphere (domestic violence, violence against a 15-year-old minor, violence on the ascendant, harassment by a spouse, death threats by spouse) and prisoners convicted of acts of a sexual nature (rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual exhibition) ”.

For Jean-Claude Roussy, deputy secretary general of the UFAP Grand-Est prison union, such a device poses a “serious ideological problem, whatever one thinks of vaccination”: “Normally, a reduction of sentence must be obtained for good behavior. or reintegration project. How does being vaccinated help with this? Concretely, this means that these prisoners have the guarantee of benefiting from a reduction of sentence up to 2 months, even 3 if they have an advanced reintegration plan. “

A note which “will not be applied a priori”, according to the Sarreguemines prosecutor’s office

In his note, the vice-president in charge of the application of sentences considers on the contrary that this initiative aims “to enhance the sense of collective responsibility among detainees” and ” [récompense] a serious effort at social rehabilitation ”. In his eyes, “detainees refusing vaccination […] will not be penalized [par rapport à ceux l’ayant acceptée] “Since they will always benefit from” common law treatment unlike vaccinated prisoners who will be able to claim the exceptional procedure “for studying additional reductions in sentence.

Contacted by 20 minutes, the Sarreguemines prosecutor’s office indicates, without further clarification, that “this note will not be applied a priori”.

An incitement to vaccination in prison also observed in Guadeloupe

This incitement to vaccination among detainees is not a first: a document appearing to promise a similar remission of sentence was recently distributed at the Baie-Mahault penitentiary in Guadeloupe, as confirmed on August 18 by the Ministry of Justice. To 20 minutes, by evoking “a very local initiative” and assuring “that there was no other similar initiative elsewhere in the territory”.

Joined on the subject of the note distributed in the remand center, the Chancellery refers us to the response of the Sarreguemines public prosecutor’s office but indicates that “the law sets the criteria for reducing the sentence and that the judge is free to assess them” .

According to the Directorate General of Health (DGS), and while awaiting “consolidated data on the coverage rate in prisons”, “nearly 37,000 injections were carried out in 165 sanitary units in prison (USMP), including 22,000 first injections and 15,000 seconds injections [sur les] 66,000 detainees recorded on June 1, 2021 by the Ministry of Justice ”.



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