The situation is such, at the remand center in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), that the imprisonments have been suspended there.
A home of 69 people contaminated with Covid-19 was identified there, detainees and members of staff, announced Wednesday the interregional direction of the prison services of Dijon.
According to the prison administration, six inmates complained of symptoms of Covid-19 on Friday.
All inmates and staff were then tested, revealing 63 new cases.
A total of 65 out of 212 prisoners were infected, as well as four out of 77 prison officers and supervisors.
The work of inmates, teachings and worship gatherings have been suspended.
On the other hand, walks and contactless visiting rooms have been maintained.
The contaminated prisoners have been isolated and take their walks separately.
The crossing points are disinfected, said the prison administration.
Other clusters in other prisons
In coordination with the Regional Health Agency of Center-Val de Loire, new tests will be carried out "in seven to 10 days".
In the meantime, the Tours remand center has been placed in "stop nut" mode, to no longer welcome new detainees, according to the interregional management.
Potential new detainees are returned "as a priority" to the Blois remand center (Loir-et-Cher) and the Orléans-Saran prison (Loiret).
This cluster in the Tours remand center is not an isolated case.
At the end of January, Le Parisien already revealed the existence of clusters in several penitentiary centers in Île-de-France, including those in Fresnes (Val-de-Marne), Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) or Réau (Seine-et -Marl).
A problem that could be underestimated with detainees "who prefer to be silent", as a detainee just released from prison confided to the Parisian, for fear of "worrying their families".