A penalty but not prison. It is by accepting a community service (TIG) and by choosing to perform it within a food aid association that Vincent seems to have found his place in society. “Now I am a volunteer in the association and I have started a training course in personal assistance”, testifies this “tigiste” as they are called. According to the latest figures available, some 43,000 people were offered this alternative to prison in 2019. They are mainly men (92%) and eight out of ten went to the end of this judicial “alternative route” which blows this year its forty candles.
But the TIG, quesaco? It consists of unpaid work within an association, a community or a public institution. The idea of its founding father, the Keeper of the Seals Robert Badinter was to propose a different sentence for the perpetrators of minor offenses such as traffic offences, the use or possession of narcotics, insults or thefts….
And the philosophy is that these offenses punishable by law must “not be synonymous with exclusion from society”. “These sentences in TIG are intended for integration, awareness and valorization of work”, underlines Hélène Chevalet, representative of the TIG agency in Haute-Garonne which gathered all the partners of the program on Tuesday in Toulouse. It has advantages that no other penalty manages to bring together: to sanction, to repair, to insert, to prevent and to socialise. “It is a sentence that punishes since the condemned person works for free, but his sentence is above all symbolic: he repairs the harm done to society”, she specifies.
34% of “tigistes” reoffend
In forty years, TIG has proven itself. In fact, 34% of people reoffend after a community service sentence compared to 63% for people released on a “dry release” after prison, according to a report of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) dating from November 2019.
“There is a real educational work around the TIG to explain to the condemned why it is not necessary to go back to the act”, assures Hélène Chevalet. “Besides, it’s still a chance for them. We allow them to put one foot in the stirrup. It is often young people – 47% under the age of 26 – who are outside the system. Some discover a vocation, others have the possibility of obtaining a contract behind. TIG is often an opportunity to discover the professional world and prepare for post-conviction. This is the reason why it is one of the most effective sanctions on the rate of recidivism”, welcomes the territorial referent.
The TIG remains a sentence and a sanction all the same: “the work of general interest can reach 400 hours, continues the person in charge. This can cause the loss of a job, an equally diminished freedom but does not imply the loss of social rights as when one goes to prison. It also requires the consent of the convict because there is no forced labor in France”.
“Everyone was the same, treated the same”
“I accepted the TIG measurement but I didn’t know where I was going to do it. I wanted to do it in the humanitarian field, in helping people: I chose the Restos du Coeur, ”says Roger, 45, a tigiste. “When I went there, I was a little apprehensive about being treated like a criminal. I quickly realized that everyone was the same, treated the same. After my TIG, I will continue to go there as a volunteer, ”continues the convict. “For someone who does nothing, or who doesn’t have a job, I think it’s better than going to prison,” concludes Roger.
Less successful than the electronic bracelet
Despite the figures and flattering testimonials, the TIG is however very little used by judges. In Haute-Garonne, it represents only 3.9% of convictions pronounced in 2022, and 4% on average at the level of France. “Unfortunately there are few convictions that turn into community service. In forty years, there has not been a great evolution despite the fact that everyone is convinced of the relevance of this alternative”, deplores Hélène Chevalet. “There is a sharp increase in the number of electronic bracelets but still not that of TIGs. We must work on better communication and pedagogy with the judges, ”she adds. “It is a very good measure which must be highlighted and which must increase in power”, confirms for her part the judge of application of sentences Adeline Diallo who wishes a real collective work so that the magistrates use more the TIG.
This observation can also be explained by the lack of partners available to welcome people in community service. To overcome this problem, and in particular to raise the awareness of more associations, a TIG and professional integration agency (ATIGIP) was created in December 2018. Results are still pending as prisons remain overcrowded.