Prison is a place of deprivation of freedom where one does not deprive oneself that much, we will end up believing.
According to a press release from UFAP-UNSa Justice, the prison of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier (Isère) has been distinguished since the beginning of the year by an explosion in trafficking, and in particular illegal shipments of parcels to detainees.
Tens of kilos of narcotics, hundreds of telephones were seized, representing a small fraction of the real traffic in this prison with 192 places, as well as 197 places in the remand center, this last structure accommodating in reality 362 prisoners, i.e. a 184% overcrowding.
Read alsoAn inmate found dead in a cell at Fresnes prison
In question, the good old system of the parcel launched towards the buildings of accommodation.
Alain Chevallier, from the establishment's union office, explains how these "
deliveries
" work: "
outside the walls of the centre, there is a glacis, a neutral zone framed by a fence, and called impenetrable, which protects any approach to the walls.
At night, individuals enter shamelessly inside this area, by cutting the fence, and approach the walls to throw parcels at the foot of the facades.
From the cells, inmates throw grappling hooks, made with string and a twisted fork or other implement.
They pick up the nets and bring them back to them
”.
Narcotics and knives, but also acid or mortars
According to administration figures cited by the union, since January 1, 5,467 parcels - an average of ten per detainee!
- have been spotted by the surveillance agents, generally those placed in the watchtowers.
Time to intervene, only 2239 of them were recovered.
“
There are many more projected in reality, many escape surveillance
”, notes Alain Chevallier.
The products seized therefore only give a glimpse of the reality of the traffic.
And enough to worry: 33 kilograms of narcotics, against 23 kg seized over the whole of 2021. 738 mobile phones, 37 knives or homemade weapons, 128 liters of alcohol.
The union also cites other objects of concern: acid, white spirit, mortars.
And evokes a "
huge coffee-shop
», Ironically: «
the turnover of this underground economy under good institutional shelter is a nonsense for an administration whose reintegration would be, it seems, an essential mission
».
Alain Chevallier then describes the disruption caused by this traffic to the detainees, and the disastrous consequences for the administration: “
detainees who receive a lot of goods know that you can come and search the cells.
So they have others store it, putting pressure, which generates incredible insecurity, blackmail, etc.
And when the supervisors seize, it degenerates.
Very often it ends in punches etc.
“, he underlines, citing another 30 to 40 sick leaves out of the approximately 150 employees of the establishment.
Read alsoPrison overcrowding: why it is necessary to build 30,000 prison places
What happens to the seized goods?
“
We store around 2,000 packets of cigarettes, which we sometimes redistribute to the poor, etc.
“recalls the delegate.
“
But we also have an incredible quantity of telephones, almost brand new and in packaging, which are regularly destroyed by order of the ministry.
Can you imagine the quantities in all French prisons?
It's an incomprehensible waste, we could give them to associations
”.
Contacted, the establishment refers to the interregional management, which did not respond to our calls.
Last August, the Iséroise prison had canceled in extremis a pizza evening, for its 30 years of existence, after the karting controversy in Fresnes.
