The extension of Grasse prison would solve the problem of prison overcrowding in the Alpes-Maritimes according to the city’s mayor

In a forum, Jérôme Viaud, LR mayor of Grasse, supports this option, because the municipality has the land rights which make this project possible. But in exchange, if the project is one day validated by the State, it expects compensation.

It is located on the heights, approximately 7 kilometers from the center of the city of Grasse and with that of Nice, it is one of the two remand centers in the Alpes-Maritimes.

To get there, you must take departmental road 6085 towards Saint-Vallier, the old Route Napoléon. Opened in 1992, this prison with 574 places is located in the middle of greenery and there is space, which is precious in the department.

The mayor of the town is not mistaken. For him, this remand center can be expanded without any problem.

In a political forum, Jérôme Viaud, mayor LR, president of the agglomeration community of the Pays de Grasse and departmental advisor, the relevance of his proposal which he describes as relevant and priority.

Firstly because its commune is a district capital, with a sub-prefecture, also with a judicial court and a bar which has 600 lawyers. Then since this extension is physically possible and validated 3 years ago by local elected officials, because it is likely to resolve the thorny problem of prison overpopulation.

This extension is even the subject of a broad political consensus throughout the Alpes-Maritimes department. This solution was also proposed to the Minister of Justice in 2021 via a letter co-signed by Charles Ange Ginesy, President of the Departmental Council, Eric Ciotti, Member of Parliament and Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice.

Political column by Jérôme Viaud

He deplores, he says, the absence of a decision at the time on this file – Nicole Belloubet and Eric Dupont-Moretti were referred to the file in vain. All that remains is to wait for the new government and the appointment of a new Minister of Justice who will consider, or not, whether this file is a priority. He recalls that the public authorities always mention a figure: the lack of 12,000 prison places in France and that no one makes a proposal.

For the mayor of Grasse, an additional enclosure could be built on the right part of the current buildings. But if the project comes to fruition, Jérôme Viaud expects more magistrates from the State, more national police officers – they are often assigned to transfer detainees to the courthouse or hospital and during this time, they are not on public roads -.

The mayor of Grasse also wants a review of the overall operating allocation allocated by the State to the municipality, which he believes is undervalued.

What do the residents of the town think? Difficult to know at the moment.

For the moment, the number of places in this remand center is 574 places, the number of detainees varies but it is around 700, representing prison overcrowding.

These are people in pre-trial detention, awaiting trial or when their conviction is not final, or people convicted when the sentence does not exceed two years.