One foot in prison, one foot out.
Since 2019, the prison administration has gradually deployed local prison security teams (ELSP), responsible in particular for medical and judicial extractions or administrative transfers of prisoners.
In their missions, outside the prison, these teams are armed.
And this is the main change made compared to the teams previously responsible for these transfers.
“We have a different level of escort depending on the dangerousness of the person detained,” explains Jean-Baptiste, supervisor in the Fleury-Mérogis ELSP.
“And when it’s sometimes very, very high, it’s not even us who are going to do that anymore.
It will be the GIGN or the ÉRIS which will take care of the transfer.”
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These guards are also responsible for securing the prison areas and their surroundings.
The 100th ELSP was inaugurated last week in Dijon.
At the Meaux-Chauconin penitentiary center as well as that of Fleury-Mérogis, these teams were set up in 2022.
“Previously, we were unarmed, and to remove more or less dangerous detainees, we had to call on the police at times,” explains Captain Denis, head of the ELSP in Fleury.
“It was also important that the prison administration evolve and become less dependent on internal security forces such as the police or the gendarmerie, and rely less on them because they are already increasingly so outside.”
Watch our report at the top of the article.