That night, in less than fourteen seconds, at least three packets launched from the parking lot of the Le Lyautey residence will land on the other side. In the courtyard of the Nice prison after going over a six-meter-high wall. The “package launchers”, who illegally supply detainees with food, but also drugs, were filmed at work by residents of Justin-Montolivo Street. And the sequence was broadcast by Nice morning Start of the week.
The phenomenon is not new. It is well installed. Very organized. “It is daily”, even affirms an internal source at the penitentiary establishment. And this, despite the parades put in place on the side of the prison but also of the adjoining condominiums.
Maurice* is a former guardian of the Le Lyautey residence. He has lived there since the early 1990s. And these package launchers, he “has always seen them”. ” It comes and goes. Despite the fences we had installed, the gates, they still manage to slip through. Sometimes they climb on cars and cause damage, explains to 20 minutes the one who worked for the condominium between 2000 and 2016. I am a physiognomist and I recognize people who are not part of the residence. And there are times when there are more than usual. For example, when there are religious holidays or on the evenings of football matches. »
“In 95% of cases, it happens in the middle of the night”
According to Nordine, a prison guard, secretary of the Ufap-Unsa Justice Nice union, the package shipments, there would in fact be “every day” and for “all types of prisoners”. “Sometimes we manage to recover them before them. But in 95% of cases, we don’t see anything, it happens in the middle of the night, ”he explains.
The practice is therefore well established, perfectly organized. But it would not be a specialty of Nice, where the remand center, with 360 places, currently has 520 prisoners (i.e. 144% occupancy). Asked by Nice morninga representative of the regional management of the prison administration in Marseille recognizes that “all the establishments of Provence Côte d’Azur are confronted with this phenomenon”.
For the delivery to arrive safely, everything is a question of tempo. Shippers waiting for the green light from recipients over the phone to throw their packages with all their might. Among the four people visible in the video posted by Nice morning, we can also distinguish a silhouette holding a lit screen in his hand. Prison tenants use landlines that have been installed in their cell or laptops sent in previous packages. “And it takes them three minutes to stall all that. It goes very fast. Even if residents call the police, when they arrive, most often, the launchers have already left, “explains Philippe Hiller, owner of an apartment in the residence and president of the association La Clé des Champs, who is campaigning for the prison to move out of the city centre. Arrests have already taken place and convictions have been handed down. But most of the time, these covert operations do indeed go off without a hitch.
During the day, parcels are picked up directly during walks. At night, the technique is well established. The parcels, surrounded by large-mesh nets, often potato wrappers, are “fished” through the bars of the cells with makeshift rods. “They use folded forks to create a kind of hook, at the end of a sheet, and the whole thing is weighted down, describes Nordine again. However, many things have been done: gratings have been placed on the windows, wire netting has been installed beyond the interior walls. The administration tries everything it can. But they always find parades. »
Even an aquarium with live fish
But then what do we find in these packages, sent despite the risk of a conviction? “A bit of everything,” replies the union representative. Some packets include Haribo candies, others Hallal meat. There are a lot of foodstuffs. But also cell phones and cannabis. The hash is recurrent. Almost all the time in fact. At one time, there were also many banned substances related to bodybuilding. Anabolics and other pills. We have also already discovered a kind of white powder. But I don’t know if it had been analyzed and if it was, or not, cocaine. »
So many products that end up in the cells if they are not intercepted in time. “The problem is that the detainees are not searched on returning from walks”, supports Philippe Hiller for his part.
According to an internal source at the prison, these shipments of very sporty parcels would not be the only means for the prisoners to obtain what they want from the outside. Since PlayStations, soundbars and even an aquarium with live fish have already reached them.
*His first name has been changed.