The General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) wrote Thursday, January 13 to the Ministry of Justice to alert it to "
the need to quickly resort
" to "
prison regulation mechanisms
" to relieve detainees and guards, affected by the duration of the restrictions related to Covid-19.
Read also Villepinte: largest Covid cluster in prison with nearly 180 cases
In this letter made public, Dominique Simonnot warns about the explosive cocktail that constitute "
a bewildering prison overcrowding
" and "
the exceptional epidemic recovery
".
To cope with "
the senseless promiscuity of most of the remand centers
", she considers it necessary "
to quickly resort to measures equivalent to those which had been taken in March 2020, making it possible to release those detained close to the end of their sentence. sentence and to postpone any imprisonment
”.
An outbreak of Covid contaminations
Prisons are facing an outbreak of Covid contaminations linked to the rise of the highly contagious Omicron variant. According to the last point communicated by the Chancellery, as of January 4, 863 cases had been detected among the approximately 70,000 detainees, and 1,029 among the staff (out of approximately 40,000). For the controller, the fight against this epidemic wave cannot be based solely on restrictive measures (prohibition of contact with visitors, restriction of the freedom of movement of detainees and activities outside the cell), which “
in ordinary times disciplinary sanctions
”.
Describing the situation as "
very worrying
", she referred to the "
physical and moral exhaustion
" of the detained population, for whom the situation has never returned to normal since the start of the pandemic, even during a period of recession. 'epidemic.
“
The consequences of this degraded atmosphere also fall on the prison staff.
Moreover, the prison directors told the CGPLP both of their anger and their dismay
, ”adds the controller.
Read also Covid-19: a cluster declared in Angoulême prison
In her letter, as well as in another letter addressed to the Ministry of Health, she also asks the health authorities to "
ensure better vaccination coverage in penitentiary establishments
".
At the beginning of December 2021, 57.6% of the detained population had received at least one dose of the vaccine against the Covid, against 77.6% in the general population at the same time, she specifies.
