The program Mise au point followed guards at Bellevue prison in Gorgier (NE), who work alongside prisoners sentenced to long sentences, who are sometimes psychologically fragile. A job that requires a good dose of humanity.
Detention officers watch over 63 men sleeping alone behind heavy cell doors. These inmates are serving long sentences for serious crimes: drug trafficking, murder, rape and pedophilia.
At night, the guards meet between each round at the central station. This place is in some way the eyes and ears of this high-security penitentiary establishment. Awake, some psychologically sensitive prisoners play with the intercom of their cell. One prisoner calls the guards, claiming that “a terrorist is setting fire” in the area. After a brief exchange, he hangs up.
I’m not here to judge a second time.
At 5:45 in the morning, while the night shift has not yet finished its shift, the day shift arrives. They will wake up the prisoners together. In prison, this time slot is not called “wake-up”, but “life control”.
“Dark thoughts often come at night when they are alone. If one of them acts out, it’s only in the early morning that we notice,” explains Raphaël, a detention officer for 10 years.
“I can’t turn the page”
Serge [prénom d’emprunt] explains that he has experienced difficult times during his career. “A person cut his arm very badly. And a long time ago, I found a person hanging,” he explains.
The guard also recounts being attacked: “I received psychological support and someone to listen to me. But there is a before and after. I can’t turn the page. I live and rebuild myself with that. But there are always times when… that’s it. You have to be comfortable in your work and not show that you’re afraid. Because if you’re afraid, you have no business being there.”
A virtuous cycle thanks to work
The men incarcerated in this prison are not choirboys. The guards have to deal with inmates with heavy pasts. “I’m not here to judge a second time a person who raped, who killed, who did immoral and filthy things,” assures Raphaël. “I’m here to make her serve her sentence. I try to help her and help society so that, the day she gets out, she’s better than when she went in,” emphasizes the former social worker.
Prisoners are required to work from Monday to Friday and receive a salary of around 300 francs per month for this.
Raphael says that day labor provides a framework that can benefit prisoners: “Idleness is not allowed in prison. If they are given access to a certain taste for daily effort, it can launch them into a virtuous cycle if they adhere to it once outside.”
TV report: Michaël Borgognon
Web adaptation: friend
