The “15,000 places” prison real estate plan, wanted by Emmanuel Macron since 2018 and reappeared in recent days with the announcement of three new penitentiary centers in Ile-de-France for 2027, does not only have support.
In the Val-de-Marne, it is very difficult to find any.
The 800-place prison project on the territory of Noiseau, formalized on April 20 by Prime Minister Jean Castex, has been unanimous against him since he emerged two and a half years ago.
Rather than a new construction and the arrival of hundreds of prisoners in the middle of cultivated fields, on the left as on the right we are still in favor of a complete rehabilitation of the Fresnes penitentiary center.
Christian Favier, the president (PCF) of Val-de-Marne, not only considers that this project in Noiseau is "neither expected nor useful for the development of Val-de-Marne".
For him, the urgency in terms of works is played on the side of the prison of Fresnes, "particularly dilapidated".
A 270 million euro project announced in 2018
Mayor (PS) of Fresnes, Marie Chavanon also considers it more than necessary to look into "the living conditions of prisoners and the working conditions of prison officers".
Denouncing an overpopulation having peaked here at more than 200%, (but much less strong since last year with the health crisis), the elected official specifies having "no information on a renovation project".
“The town hall is not associated,” she says.
At the head of the group Les Républicains Val-de-Marne otherwise, Olivier Capitanio is no better informed and no less reassembled: "The urgency and common sense should encourage the State to really implement the project of renovation of the Fresnes prison for an amount of 270 million euros announced in 2018, ”he said in a press release.
"We only had tinkering"
In 2018, a few months after Emmanuel Macron's visit to Fresnes, the courts ordered work to be carried out in the walking yards of the penitentiary center. Since ? "We only had tinkering, things done in an emergency", points Cédric Boyer, local secretary FO, who no longer has disappointed hopes.
Ufap-Unsa supervisor and local secretary, Jean-Christophe Petit has also accumulated a lot of them through official visits, whether senatorial, presidential or ministerial.
In July 2020, Eric Dupond-Moretti had chosen to visit Fresnes for his first field trip as Minister of Justice.
“To this day, we are still awaiting announcements of the master plan for this restructuring expected by all staff,” points out the union representative.
A presentation should have been made last year, but following the health crisis, there is a delay and no information is transmitted.
"" The Covid has a good back, believes Cédric Boyer.
We have been talking about this master plan for years and nothing is moving forward.
"
A project "under development"
Asked about this question, the Ministry of Justice specifies that a project to rehabilitate the Fresnes penitentiary center is "under study, like the operations already carried out at Fleury-Mérogis and Paris-la Santé".
While these structures were the subject of extensive work in recent years, the professionals mobilized in Fresnes saw nothing coming.
"This historic establishment has always been left behind to the detriment of other more recent structures which have already undergone their rehabilitation", judges Jean-Christophe Petit, who finally hopes for something concrete.
At this stage, no date has been set for the launch of this work.
"The master plan for requalification is still being developed," the ministry said again this Thursday.
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But Place Vendôme, we remind you that the “15,000 places” program will improve life in the corridors of Fresnes.
"Several penal establishments are planned in Ile-de-France, in order to increase the number of places in the Paris region and reduce the prison density in this establishment in the long term", we are told.
In Fresnes, we are careful not to applaud what some present as an announcement effect and we expect something concrete.