He had not chosen this place at random. On March 15, while visiting the Auvare barracks to the east of Nice, the cells where people in custody are locked up, the president of the bar Adrien Verrier knew that he would find there… malfunctions. Since the 1960s, this police station has occupied the premises of a former barracks of the Alpine Hunters built in 1870. But, on the spot, the verdict exceeds its forecasts: it denounces “monstrous” premises, worthy of “dungeons of the Middle Ages”. With no hygiene kit, never changed paper blankets and filth.
A lot of filth even, according to the lawyer, who echoes “deplorable hygienic conditions”. A few days later, he went to court. A useful interim measure is launched before the administrative court of Nice to obtain from the Minister of the Interior the compliance of the cells “with the health rules”. The court is expected to rule soon. Tuesday soon.
In the meantime, even if the Ministry of the Interior assures “that a budget is allocated each year for renovation and maintenance programs”, the case of Nice would not be isolated among the 646 police stations in France, to which are added other premises of certain territorial services.
“It’s still so disgusting”
In 2021, the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) inspected “the material conditions of police custody” in 17 of these police services with the same finding: “unworthy reception conditions”. In October 2013, a CGLPL team already noted that the nuts of the Auvare barracks were “old and unsuitable”. In January, jails in Rennes were also singled out. And the “recurring nature of the shortcomings noted as well as the lack of improvement in this situation over the past ten years” prompted, two years ago, this independent administrative authority to recommend the “implementation of a global policy rehabilitation of premises.
Since then, if “it has improved a little bit in some cases, in the vast majority, it’s still just as disgusting”, slices the Comptroller General, questioned by 20 minutes. Dominique Simonnot even evokes, in certain places visited, unbearable smells of urine. “You go in there to be taken into custody and you spend hours in a filthy place,” she continues. You are necessarily in a state of vulnerability. Why are these people treated with so much contempt for the human person? We can’t help but wonder if this is not intended. »
In Nice, the Auvare barracks facilities should in any case move to a brand new “police hotel”, in 2025 if all goes well. But the work is urgent, according to the chairman, to guarantee justice. “Custody can last up to 96 hours. And to defend yourself, you have to be in good conditions. The question arises: having in front of them a person who mills can arrange the investigators, abounds Me Adrien Verrier. No one talks about the conditions under which these procedures very often take place. There is a kind of consensus around that. And there are several explanations, but the most plausible is that the individual freedoms of people in police custody are not among the priorities ”.
“Progress is necessary”, recognizes Darmanin
Solicited by 20 minutes, the Interior, on which these places of deprivation of liberty depend, nevertheless ensures that things are done. “In recent years, the standards have been raised concerning the premises of police custody, taking into account the recommendations which have been made, specifies the ministry. A budget is set aside each year for renovation and maintenance programmes. »
In 2021, in a response to the previous CGLPL report, Gérald Darmanin “strongly” contested the assertion “of a supposed ”total unworthiness of the conditions of reception in police custody””. “The obligation to treat persons in custody with dignity […] is rigorously respected in the vast majority of situations”, assured the minister, while recognizing “that progress is necessary to better guarantee respect for the dignity of persons in the course of police custody. The Ministry had already specified that “significant efforts have been made for several years to improve the situation […] despite the persistence of territorial disparities”.
An investment of 15 million in five years
According to an investment table published two years ago and showing “the operations carried out or planned in police custody premises between 2019 and 2024”, it is the East of France which would benefit from the largest envelope, 6 million euros out of a total of less than 15 million. The Southeast was to benefit from 1.3 million over the period, of which 260,000 euros would be spent this year, in 2023. Asked in recent days, the ministry did not give more details on this subject.
He was also not present at the hearing organized a few days ago in Nice. No representative had made the trip, not even a lawyer. An absence noticed and “regretted” by the magistrate, responsible for ruling on the request of the chairman: to do work in the police station under penalty of 1,000 euros per day. “The court had a lot of questions and no doubt they would not have had many answers,” quipped Me Adrien Verrier. “The provisional date for rendering the decision is set for Tuesday, April 18,” said the administrative court at the time.