Administrative justice on Tuesday ordered the prison administration to take emergency measures to improve the condition of prisoners, deemed unworthy, in the prisons of Limoges (Haute-Vienne) and Saint-Martin-de-Ré (Charente-Maritime ).
The summary judge had been contacted by the Order of Lawyers and the French section of the International Prison Observatory (OIP), after an unannounced visit to the Limoges remand center by the President of the Bar at the beginning of November. He considered that the conditions of detention there were “contrary to human dignity”, according to a press release from the administrative court (TA) of the city.
Prison overcrowding, lack of partitioning of toilets in cells, lack of maintenance, proliferation of bedbugs, insufficient hygiene of prisoners: all “serious failings” already reported by the General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) in 2022 and which have not been corrected since, denounced the Bar Association at the hearing.
In Limoges, an occupancy rate of 195% during an unannounced visit
Dismissing requests not falling within his jurisdiction, the judge ordered additional blankets to be issued “without delay” to detainees who request it, as long as windows remain broken and expose them to the cold.
The administration must also regularly distribute hygiene kits, as well as cell maintenance kits, to prisoners free of charge. Finally, he was ordered to isolate the toilet areas by means of a partition or a wooden panel in the cells, in order to protect the privacy of the prisoners.
In service since 1856, the Limoges remand center has a capacity of 83 places and suffers from “old and significant prison overcrowding”, notes the judge in his decision, with an occupancy rate of 195% on the day of the visit of the President of the Bar.
Saint-Martin-de-Ré: the detainees had taken legal action
In Charente-Maritime, 15 detainees from the Saint-Martin-de-Ré power station took legal action to denounce “chronic unsanitary conditions”. The OIP then considered that this was “a rare and essential collective action”.
The summary judge of the administrative court of Poitiers ordered the prison administration, “as quickly as possible”, to strengthen the effectiveness of measures to combat the presence of cockroaches in buildings and to ensure the regulation of water temperature in the showers.
The administration must also “stop the systematic nature of body searches for detainees returning from family visiting rooms”, adds the court in a press release.
After a visit to the Île de Ré establishment in September 2021, the CGLPL services pointed out “the obsolescence of the buildings in the confinement areas which continue to deteriorate over time”. Opened in 1875, this central house for long sentences is the largest in France with a capacity of around 460 places, according to the OIP.
