The new director of the Prison Administration Laurent Ridel wants to initiate a major plan to fight against violence in prison "
by the end of the year
", he announced Monday in an interview with AFP.
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“
Two thirds of the detainees are in prison for acts of violence, but the prison should not be a place of violence.
It is a place of law and the first of the rights is that of security
”, declared Mr. Ridel who took the head of the Prison administration at the beginning of March.
Castigating those who “
for years, in an ideological way
”, “
opposed integration and security
” while the two are “
linked
”, he considered that the fight against recidivism was at the same time “
a work of prevention of violence
”and“
through social work to integrate people into society
”, in particular through education, training and work in detention.
The bill of the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, adopted at first reading at the end of May in the National Assembly, includes a large section on work in detention and the rights of detainees, "
essential
" to reintegration according to the minister.
"
Without security, we can do all the activities we want, if the detainee is afraid of being racked in a hallway he will never go
," says Mr. Ridel.
According to the prison administration, most of the violence in detention concerns violence between prisoners (around 8,000 cases per year) and that against staff (around 4,500 cases).
The plan, which will have national “
major axes
” but will be tailored to the specificities of each of the country's 188 prisons, will be launched by the end of the year. In the meantime, the prison administration wants to carry out a needs analysis and provide feedback on what is already being done: programs against violence in place in certain prisons, units for violent prisoners, "
respect module
" ( which allows detainees to move freely in detention under certain conditions). The plan should also include a component on violence targeting prison staff outside the prison.
