the essential
The establishment will be able to accommodate 8 adolescents aged 13 to 18, whose placement has been ordered by the courts in a criminal context. A first in the Tarn.
A new accommodation facility for minors and young adult offenders will soon see the light of day in Tarn. This structure will be able to accommodate 8 adolescents aged 13 to 18, who are subject to a judicial placement measure under the juvenile criminal justice code, according to the terms of the call for projects which has just been published by the Tarn prefecture. It is an organization from the associative sector which will manage this “social and medico-social establishment or service” (ESMSS). The managers concerned have until June 18 to submit their application.
It is not a prison for minors, like the EPM of Lavaur, one of six establishments of this type in France, nor even a closed educational center (CEF), an alternative to incarceration and reserved for minors under judicial supervision, under probation or on conditional release. There is also no CEF established in Tarn.
The new accommodation structure will not be “as restrictive”, explains Sylvie Vella, southern regional director of judicial youth protection (PJJ). The objective is to provide a “more structured place” for young people who have committed an offense and who often have a complicated family background, in order to prevent the commission of more serious acts. Supervised by a multidisciplinary team, they will not be “locked in” and will continue their schooling or learning during the day.
A first in the Tarn
These placement decisions are made by a children’s judge and implemented by the PJJ, a department of the Ministry of Justice in charge of organizing juvenile justice. These placements are done at the regional level even if magistrates, when possible, “prefer to place young people close to their families” in order to maintain links, explains Sylvie Vella. But until now, the Tarn teenagers concerned are sent to the neighboring departments, in Aveyron, Haute-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne… “Hence the interest in opening a small structure in Tarn”, adds the regional director.
The announcement of this call for projects is welcomed with satisfaction by the magistrates. “We are in fact limited in the places available,” explains a judicial Source at the Albi court. “We are often forced to have to delay the execution of the measure or even forced to consider an alternative, in particular maintaining a civil placement, instead of a criminal placement.”
The teams of the PJJ Tarn-Aveyron, whose headquarters are based in Albi, monitored 2,800 young people last year, whether in a criminal context, including for simple reminders of the law, or in civil matters to protect the minors in danger, in conjunction with departmental councils. This figure represents around 10% of young people monitored by the PJJ in Occitanie.
