Visiting Guadeloupe for two days, the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti renewed Tuesday and Wednesday his promises of additional staff in the face of courts lacking resources. The opportunity for the Minister to recall the already announced hiring of 1,500 magistrates and 1,500 clerks by 2027, provided for in the justice programming and orientation bill, and the possibility for contract workers to be ” legal attachés”, a newly created function.
In Pointe-à-Pitre as in Basse-Terre, the Keeper of the Seals went to the courts to “announce what the texts contained (that he will) bring before Parliament”, he said. to the press. The Keeper of the Seals also indicated that the jurisdiction of Pointe-à-Pitre would have “four new magistrates” by September, who, according to the president of the judicial court, Hélène Judes, “will complete the vacant posts”. “We are mainly expecting staff at the transplants,” Hélène Judes told AFP.
Twenty-five homicides and 130 attempts committed in 2022
The minister also announced the arrival in Guadeloupe of a coordinator responsible for facilitating the work of support functions as well as computer technicians. “The number of disputes is also increasing with us, we also badly need staff,” said Malika Deros, CGT delegate, in Basse-Terre who, with other agents during the exchanges, told Eric Dupond- Moretti of the problems related to the time difference with Paris, making it difficult to manage computer problems or participate in the training of judicial staff provided at the times of the capital.
And to recall the difficult context that the territory is experiencing, between high travel time, violence (25 homicides and 130 attempts committed in 2022 according to the prosecution) or even recurrent water cuts.
“Our colleagues have blind offices, the walls are leaking”
The minister also promised major real estate programs, a black spot for Guadeloupe courts. While the historic Pointe-à-Pitre courthouse was supplanted by a brand new building in 2019, the old building still needs to be renovated to install the local court by 2027. “Some of our colleagues have blind offices, the walls ooze”, reminded Hélène Judes to the Minister, insisting on the dilapidation of the premises of judicial poles as in the jurisdiction of Basse-Terre, where the court, classified as a historical monument, is according to her unsuited to modern justice .
Finally, Eric Dupond-Moretti also laid the first stone of a 300-place extension to the Baie-Mahault penitentiary center, which has 491 places according to its director and has 272% overcrowding. An extension, unveiled in 2019 by former Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet and announced for this year, which will finally be delivered in 2026.