The Vaudois Grand Council gave the green light on Tuesday to invest 74.3 million francs for the canton’s prisons. Five credits were adopted to renovate or build different sites, mainly at the future Pôle pénitentiaire du Nord Vaudois (PPNV) in Orbe.
In detail, credits were granted to renovate the Bois-Mermet prison in Lausanne (5.2 million) and that of Bochuz in Orbe (10.7 million). Two dilapidated sites which must be kept in operation while awaiting the construction of the Grands-Marais prison on the PPNV site.
This new prison, planned for 2030 and which will have 410 places, obtained a loan of 12.6 million on Tuesday. This is dedicated to additional studies with a view to constructing the building in a single stage, whereas it was envisaged in two stages until now.
Work credits of 41.5 million and study credits of 4.2 million were also granted by the Grand Council for infrastructure common to the PPNV. This involves financing studies and the construction of “interfaces” between current and future establishments, both underground (heating network, electricity) and above ground (roads, parking lots, bridges, energy installations). .
“Blind” voting
These various credits were largely accepted on Tuesday by the Grand Council, several deputies recalling that the canton had suffered from prison overpopulation for many years. However, caveats were expressed. And in particular concerning the lack of accessibility by public transport, at least at the moment, to reach the future PPNV.
Some elected officials also regretted having to “vote blindly” in the absence of the results of an external study on prison overpopulation, the publication of which has still not been authorized by the Council of State. Members of the Grand Council have been calling for this Brägger report for several months. A communication should take place “by the end of the year”, said State Councilor Isabelle Moret on Tuesday.
With the construction of Grands-Marais, which will be added to the current sites of Bochuz, Colonies and La Croisée, the PPNV will ultimately constitute one of the largest penitentiary sites in Switzerland with 1,000 detention places and 750 employees.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
