Overcrowding and cramped conditions, faulty electrical installations, lack of storage and adequate trash cans… Because he recognizes the conditions of detention are unworthy, within the Baie-Mahault penitentiary center, the interim relief judge orders the Minister of Justice to remedy this situation, in the short term, “pending a lasting solution”. This is the ruling of the Administrative Court of Guadeloupe, following a request filed by the French section of the International Prison Observatory.
The French section of the International Prison Observatory, which denounces the conditions of detention in the Fonds Sarail Penitentiary Centre in Baie-Mahault, has won its case before the Administrative Court of Guadeloupe.
In his order, dated June 27, 2024, the interim relief judge ordered the Keeper of the Seals to take measures as soon as possible.
Nearly 700 prisoners are incarcerated at Fonds Sarail, while the establishment has a theoretical capacity of 540 places. Prison overcrowding particularly impacts the men’s remand center section where, currently, 126 prisoners sleep on mattresses on the floor. They share standard cells that are approximately 8.6 m2including a shower room.
The judge notes the undignified conditions of detention in Baie-Mahault, on several points, first and foremost in terms of the living space of the detainees (…). The living space per person is therefore less than 1 m2. This, according to the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights, is automatic, we have a violation of the fundamental rights of the detainees.
Maître Antoine Le Scolan, lawyer for the French section of the International Prison Observatory
The applicants point out, aware that it is worth repeating, that a prison sentence should only impact the prisoners’ freedom to come and go, but not any of their other fundamental rights and freedoms.
In his request, the lawyer for the International Prison Observatory formulated 42 measures, affecting the rights of prisoners, their conditions of detention and overcrowding.
The interim relief judge, in accordance with his scope of action, only retained four measures, all of which were urgent and not structural in nature.
It is about electrical installations that must be up to standard and functional. He also talks about, and this may seem trivial, shelves in the cells; because when there are three of you in 8m2, there is no room for things, there are clothes hanging everywhere and, therefore, shelves are the least we can do to be able to organize ourselves in cohabitation, in a very small cell. He also mentions the installation of trash cans with lids in the cells.
Maître Antoine Le Scolan, lawyer for the French section of the International Prison Observatory
These measures may appear, at first glance, superficial; but they will help to restore to prisoners the dignity and security that they have partly lost, because of their shocking conditions of detention.
This judge can only take emergency measures, which can therefore be implemented in the very short term. Anything that is structural, he cannot implement. Two solutions: either we leave it there, or we think about other legal actions, to transform this request into more structural demands, in the long term.
Maître Antoine Le Scolan, lawyer for the French section of the International Prison Observatory
The observatory and its partners, including Cimade, must refine their strategy in this regard.
Regarding the four measures on which the court reminds the Minister of Justice, the prison administration claims to have a comprehensive program. It remains to be seen how the responses to the problems identified will be translated. The lawyer announces that he will be particularly attentive to their implementation.
