They want to “put an end to the indignity of the conditions of detention and the flagrant violations of the fundamental rights of those detained”. The International Prison Observatory (OIP) and several lawyers’ organizations announced that they had taken legal action on Monday to “put an end to the indignity” of the conditions of detention at the penitentiary center of Bois-d’Arcy (Yvelines), by calling for “emergency measures “.
The OIP, the Association of Lawyers for the Defense of Detainees’ Rights (A3D) and the Order of Lawyers of the Paris Bar therefore seized the urgent applications judge of the Administrative Court of Versailles. They “intend to compel the administration to adopt a certain number of measures”, in particular to prevent the “risk of fires”, to improve the “material conditions of reception of the prisoners” and “access to care”.
Thermal strainer, dilapidated showers, yard littered with trash
For her part, Monday morning, Senator EELV of Paris Esther Benbassa visited the Bois-d’Arcy remand center. Accustomed to entering prisons in this way, the elected official then described the prison center as “dilapidated”, with common areas and cells in “poor condition”. “There are thermal insulation problems: it’s a strainer where it’s too cold or too hot,” added the senator. Esther Benbassa, however, welcomed the “efforts” of renovation undertaken. Some cells have been repainted, and the electricity is being redone for an amount of 12 million euros, said the deputy director of the remand center, Isabelle Lorentz.
An electrical installation brought up to standard now allows prisoners to have hotplates and refrigerators in the renovated cells, AFP noted. But the showers are dilapidated, the windows dirty, and the windows of the cells do not close properly, exposing the detainees to the consequences of bad weather. As for the exercise yard, it has no furniture or equipment and is littered with rubbish.
Imprisonments suspended?
In December, after noting “unworthy conditions of detention” in this establishment, the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) issued a rare recommendation: “suspend incarcerations” there. This independent administrative authority explained that it had observed on the spot, in mid-September, an occupancy rate of 165% and a “general disorganization of detention” which did not make it possible “to guarantee neither the safety of the people imprisoned, nor that of the people who work. in the penitentiary center.
At the beginning of April, the remand center had 770 detainees for “503 effective places”, specified its deputy director, acknowledging herself to the press that the conditions of detention in Bois-d’Arcy “are not acceptable”.