The controller of places of deprivation of liberty wants to improve the living conditions of children in prison. He recommends in particular that doctors can enter prison more easily.
Reconciling the irreconcilable is what the Comptroller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty tries to do in his opinion on mothers detained with their children. Should we avoid at all costs the imprisonment of a child but deprive him of his mother or on the contrary privilege the maternal bond by leaving a child behind bars? Jean-Marie Delarue obviously does not have the solution but he makes recommendations to improve the living conditions of these children under 18 months who can stay with their mother.
Balance between dignity and security
First of all, he recalls that “the balance between the imperatives of security and those of the dignity of the people is not the same in the“ mothers and children ”quarters as in the other quarters of the establishment. However, this balance is applied in various ways. For example, disciplinary sanctions which could lead to the separation of mother and child should be avoided. In addition, in terms of health, the Controller General of places of deprivation of liberty issues specific recommendations in terms of health. “The mother must be able to talk freely (on the phone) with the doctor who follows or must follow her child, also accompany the latter to medical consultations outside, finally be present with him in the event of hospitalization, as much as the ‘hospital allows it,’ he emphasizes.
Bring paediatricians to prison
Facilitating the entry of maternal and child protection services (PMI) into places of detention is also necessary. For the CGLPL, it is absolutely necessary to sign agreements between the PMIs and the penitentiary establishments and to provide in particular for pediatric emergencies. In addition, Jean-Marie Delarue believes that it is often preferable to bring health professionals into the prison rather than extracting the woman and the child to take them to the hospital. “This configuration is much better than the completely theoretical freedom left to the mother to choose a doctor for her child. It has the advantage of having the doctor observe in situ the living conditions of the child and its mother. It guarantees the regularity of the medical examination – not subject to extraction of the child. This is why this solution should be favored. And even for post-childbirth care, the arrival of the gynecologist is preferable to the extraction of the woman. Indeed, during these transfers, the women often have handcuffs, chains and monitors are often present. So many degrading conditions for women. Finally, Jean-Marie Delarue wants staff working in prison nurseries to be specifically trained, to better understand certain situations such as breastfeeding.
Adjusting the penalties for mothers
This opinion does not describe an apocalyptic situation in the 26 of the 29 French prisons which have a total of 76 nursery places. However, Jean-Marie Delarue had already demanded in 2010 that a reflection be initiated so that “mothers detained with children are necessarily granted a modification of sentence or benefit from a suspension of sentence for maternity or even have access to a liberty. conditional. ” Without success. He hopes these new recommendations will not go unheeded.
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