The International Prison Observatory denounces very complicated access to specialized care for prisoners. Focus on health in detention.
- The right for a detainee to be treated has been enshrined in French law since January 1994.
- The ECHR regularly condemns France for the indignity of the living conditions in its prisons, due to prison overcrowding. Latest warning as of January 2020.
Endless delays, lack of staff, violation of medical secrecy… In a report alarming published this Wednesday, July 6, the International Observatory of Prisons (OIP) denounces a very complicated access to specialized care for prisoners in France (excluding psychiatric care).
First problem pointed out by this assessment: the interminable delays before hoping to obtain an appointment, namely several months – or even never – for the most requested specialties (dental care, physiotherapy, cardiology, ophthalmology, etc.).
“Tooth pullers”
For care inside the prisons themselves, it is rather the lack of staff, equipment or suitable premises and budget that are in question. Quoted by the OIP, caregivers describe the “D systems” put in place : “self-rehabilitation” prescribed for lack of a physiotherapist, the pain treated “with large prescriptions of morphine” despite the risk of addiction, dental procedures ” by default “ carried out by practitioners sometimes reduced to simple “tooth pullers”. According to the report, caregivers also experience the “interference” of the penitentiary environment, and in particular the many “refusal” prescriptions (showers “medical”special diets, medical beds that do not fit cell doors, crutches, prostheses, etc.).
While detainees are required, for lack of personnel/equipment or for a surgical operation, to be released from prison for certain treatments (between 30,000 and 50,000 medical extractions for 2020, according to the authorities), these outings are very often canceled in last minute, often for lack of an available escort, denounces the OIP. To the point that the doctor is sometimes forced to ” Choose “ between an emergency and an MRI “planned for months”described to the press the head doctor of the Fresnes penitentiary hospital, Anne Dulioust, quoted by South West. Often also, recognizes the OIP, it is the detainee himself who cancels his medical appointment. Because of work or a visit, but also because of “fear of unworthy extraction conditions”of“humiliation” and some “violation of medical secrecy”assures the association.
France already condemned
In theory, the prison administration defines four levels of ” methods “ escort, depending on the dangerousness of the detainee. But, in practice, insists the OIP, “in the vast majority of cases, handcuffs and shackles are generalized”even maintained during medical consultations. “I had the handcuffs on my hands and the tie at the waist, on a leash like a dog”an inmate testified in the report. “I did my colonoscopy tied to the bed, with the escort present in the room”wrote another.
In the majority of cases (and in violation of medical secrecy), the supervisor(s) remain in the room, sometimes even during surgical procedures. These practices have also earned France a conviction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2011. Since then, the situation does not seem to have changed in substance. Does this report presage a future new warning shot by the high court?
