The International Prison Observatory has seized the courts in order to oblige the State to put in place an “emergency plan” in Fresnes.
According to reports, the Fresnes penitentiary center is revealed and illustrates, at its most critical level, the issue of French prisons. First, that of prison overcrowding, which has become endemic in the country. In cells of 9 m2, supposed to be individual, three detainees are regularly piled up. In Fresnes, individual cells are a myth.
But that’s not all. Inmates must cohabit with the rats that proliferate in the establishment, their feces and their corpses, thus running a high risk of epidemics. Many people have already contracted leptospirosis, an infectious disease of bacterial origin that is transmitted by rodents. Bed bugs are also part of the everyday life of inmates.
Unsanitary
The prison is plunged into a particularly serious state of insalubrity. To put an end to this untenable situation, the International Prison Observatory (OIP) and several lawyers’ associations have taken legal action. The request for interim relief will be examined urgently on Friday morning by the administrative court of Melun (Seine-et-Marne).
Already seized by the OIP in October, this same court had ordered the State to “intensify” the actions of rat control “as soon as possible”, while recognizing that “the situation (was) improving” .
However, according to the OIP, “it appears that the presence of harmful animals and insects remains very significant”. The association also regrets that the management of the establishment did not keep it informed of the “actions taken” to comply with the court decision, despite its multiple letters.
“Emergency plan”
This time, the OIP asks the State to set up a global “emergency plan” in Fresnes. The organization denounces, pell-mell, the “overpopulation” (occupancy rate of 193.1% on March 1), “the disastrous health situation”, the “dilapidated premises” and “a context of tensions and violence particularly alarming ”. The organization also reports “the systematic nature of the strip searches, the lack of personnel and the lack of activity”.
In support of its request, the OIP has compiled a new series of testimonies from lawyers marked by “the foul odor” in the prison and from inmates forced to clean their cells each morning “with a mixture of bleach, d ‘water and toothpaste’ to drive away pests.
In December, the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) denounced the “unworthy” conditions of imprisonment at Fresnes prison and “the trivialized use of force and violence” by the warders.
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