Case prison.
The sentence must have been even more painful for these officials of the prison administration.
Sentences of up to two years in prison were pronounced Tuesday by the Rouen Court of Appeal (Seine-Maritime) against five guards of the detention center of Val-de-Reuil (Eure), who were retried for violence against a detainee in February 2020.
One of the guards, Erwin D., was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment, 2 of which were suspended.
At first instance, in April 2020 in Évreux, he was sentenced to two years, one of which is closed.
The court of appeal confirmed the definitive ban on exercising the function of guard in the prison administration (PA), said a judicial source.
Cédric D. was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, 6 of which were suspended, with a definitive ban on practicing.
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In its judgment, the Rouen Court of Appeal found the two men guilty of "willful violence" and "use of forgery".
Two other guards, Sylvain O. and Matthieu S., were sentenced to six months and three months, respectively, and found guilty of "failure to prevent a crime affecting the physical integrity" of the victim.
The fifth guard, Frédéric K., for whom the Attorney General had appealed, saw his 4-month sentence at first instance maintained.
The defendants' requests not to enter the convictions in the criminal record were all rejected.
Sentences served under electronic surveillance
The facts occurred on February 7, 2020 when the inmate, Lee-Bert F., reported as "potentially aggressive", refused a pat-down search, striking a pen in the chin of a guard.
According to the supervisors' account, the man struggled, tried to hit officers and banged his head on the ground "in a fit of rage."
Lee-Bert F. told investigators to have been violently tackled to the wall after refusing the pat-down, then to have pointed his pen "without thinking" in the direction of the supervisor.
He said the other supervisors threw themselves on him, one of them placed a knee on the back of his neck, preventing him from breathing, and then he was kicked in the face with his heels.
Several medical certificates attested to a complete occlusion of an eyelid, bruises in each eye socket and blurred vision in one eye.
At the hearing on February 22, the general prosecutor's office requested up to four years in prison, including three years.
The defendants, aged 36 to 52 and placed under judicial supervision, had generally admitted the facts.
The five guards will serve their sentences at home under electronic surveillance.
