Le Figaro Bordeaux
The lull, if it were one, would have lasted three weeks. According to several concordant sources in Le Figaro on Wednesday, the stop prison device, set up at the Gradignan prison in mid-May, was partially lifted on Monday. Admissions are therefore no longer suspended, but rather restricted to persons tried in immediate appearance. However, the occupancy rate of the prison, although lower than at its peak on May 9 (874 accommodated for 430 places in situ and 1250 imprisoned), remains explosive. Prison overcrowding reached 205% with 70 inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor on Wednesday.
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If the situation does not evolve in the right direction, the responsible supervisors that we are, will have to be heard by the barricades if necessary, "warns Hubert Gratraud. The union delegate of Force Ouvrière, if he understands this decision, insists on "the great insecurity" that this prison overcrowding poses to prison guards. That the administration be warned: out of the question for them "to accept that the situation returns to what it was" a month ago. If necessary, "a collective movement in front of the front door" will be organized, he warns. Problem: while the pressure eased slightly at the prison of Gradignan by dint of transfers and thanks to the suspension of admissions, it was those of Mont-de-Marsan and Poitiers who touched the thresholds of their capacities. The snake, again, bites its tail.
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The prison cracks
The executive, aware of the problem, unveiled its plan for justice on 5 January. It includes the finalization of the plan for 15,000 additional prison places promised in 2018. This declaration was accompanied by the announcement of a massive recruitment of 10,000 judicial officials, including 1500 magistrates. Is this plan hit by an "inexorable procrastination" as castigated by MP Patrick Hetzel (LR) in an information report presented to the National Assembly on May 25? In Gradignan, the new prison is being built well. It is to be delivered in its entirety and as planned in 2027. On the other hand, it has only 600 places, a figure lower than the reality of those currently accommodated. This suggests that the premises will be overcrowded as soon as the move is completed.
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The criminal justice chain is broken. The magistrates are out of breath and unable to work on the files with the commitment that is theirs. There is no ill will, "says Christine Maze. The president of the Bordeaux bar, who regularly denounces the conditions of detention in Gradignan and the obstruction to reintegration they generate, called on Tuesday lawyers to mobilize. It encourages them to multiply requests for alternative measures to detention to relieve prisons. For the one who already organized in 2015 a cycle of conferences entitled "the prison cracks", it is not surprising that the stop lock device did not last longer in Gradignan.
A nut stop impossible to assume
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I understand that the situation is again untenable and that the means do not exist to assume a longer stop, "analyzes Christine Maze. According to her, between the need to preserve public security and the increase in the population of Bordeaux - which has naturally led to an increase in delinquency - there is an urgent need to "give ourselves the means to work on alternative measures to detention". The stop being only partially lifted and the total suspension of admissions having still lasted three weeks, the president of Bordeaux nevertheless welcomes "the strong position of a decision that remains unprecedented and courageous".
