Senator Esther Benbassa felt that the French prison system had to "
adapt
" to ensure the care of a growing number of detainees convicted of Islamist terrorism, during a visit Tuesday, September 20 to the Bapaume detention center ( Pas de Calais).
"
French prisons are not equipped
", launched Senator EELV of Paris after a visit to this establishment which notably hosts Inès Madani, sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment, two thirds of which are security for a failed attack on the car bomb near Notre Dame Cathedral in 2016.
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"
We have to do a job of disengagement and it is not here, by making a regime of closed doors (...) that we are going to de-radicalize this young woman
", underlined Esther Benbassa.
The senator spoke with Inès Madani, 24, imprisoned since December 2021 in Bapaume under this regime, and who is demanding in particular to be able to participate in collective activities.
Most of the detainees in the centre, in “
open door regime
”, can move out of their cell during the day.
In total, a dozen people convicted of Islamist terrorism are detained in Bapaume.
"
It's a challenge to organize ourselves as well as possible on a daily basis to take care of these new profiles
," deputy director of the prison, Adelaide Valencia, told AFP.
“
In recent years, convictions have started to fall, and we have had to adapt, train the staff
” to accommodate these detainees, whose offenses have sometimes been widely publicized, she underlined.