Friday evening, three of the four organizations of the inter-union of prison guards called for lifting the prison blockade movement started after the fatal attack on a detainee transfer van on Tuesday in Eure. “We call (…) to lift the movements in all establishments in France,” declared the secretary general of FO Justice Emmanuel Baudin, after a meeting at the Ministry of Justice. The fourth union, UFAP-UNSA Justice, announced that it would “suspend” rather than lift the movement, “in order to consult” its base. The organization promised to transmit “the response from the field” Tuesday morning.
During his statement to the press, Emmanuel Baudin added that the FO Justice, CGT Pénitentiaire and SPS unions agreed to sign the “statement of decision” proposed by the Chancellery. According to him, “important advances” allowing agents to work in “better” security conditions and thus hope “to never experience such a tragedy again” were made during this meeting. He also welcomed the fact that the government’s commitments are “almost identical” to the demands made by the unions.
Armament, security and new vehicles
According to the three unions, the “advances” obtained concern the arming of guards, the securing and renewal of their vehicles, which will be “more powerful”, but also the limitation of transfers of prisoners to hospitals or courts. . Emmanuel Baudin specified that videoconference hearings by judges should increase.
The unions’ demands had already been raised by the government during a first meeting with the Ministry of Justice. However, the inter-union did not wish to stop the movement, considering that these commitments were too “conditional”. This time, the representatives considered that all guarantees had been provided. Member of the CGT Pénitentiaire, Samuel Gauthier praised “the sincere commitment of the Minister of Justice” Eric Dupond-Moretti.