“There are old leatherette mattresses on the floor. There are no disposable covers or pillows, no water points, or hygiene kits“, denounces the president of the bar of Nice. DR
Decrepit walls, dilapidated cells, non-existent hygiene… Me Adrien Verrier denounces “lamentable” conditions of detention.
Le Figaro Nice
The conference of presidents conducted a national operation on Wednesday in various centers of deprivation of liberty. Objective: to take stock of the conditions of detention of detainees, particularly during police custody. The elected representative of the lawyers of Nice, Me Adrien Verrier, therefore went without announcing himself to the nuts of the central police station of the city, the Auvare barracks. His findings are appalling.
“I decided to go to this specific place because I had received a lot of bad feedback, so I wanted to see with my eyes if all this was true.“, he explains to the Figaro. And he was not disappointed. “The result goes far beyond what I imagined. We are not far from the dungeons of the Middle Ages! Except that in the Middle Ages, there was at least straw in the cells…”, he quips, bitterly.
Located in the St Roch district, in the northeast of Nice, the central police station rests on the remains of a military barracks built in 1888. It is clear that in 150 years, nothing or very little has changed. . “The walls are decrepit, humidity and dust are everywhere. The ground is strewn with rubbishexplains Me Verrier. It is a dilapidated place in which little work is being done due to the imminent arrival of the future police hotel . Except that it won’t open its doors before 2025, at best. We can’t wait that long in these conditions.”
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It is indeed in the twenty or so cells that the situation is most alarming. With a surface area of 5 to 15 square meters for the largest ones, the latter accommodate up to 70 detainees in conditions that the chairman of the bar deems “lamentable”. He tells : “There are old leatherette mattresses on the floor. There are no disposable covers or pillows, no water points, or hygiene kits. The covers are tear-off paper. They are rolled into a ball at the bottom of the cells and are clearly never changed. They are blackened with filth. When I asked to see the stocks, I was walked around for an hour without ever showing them to me.
Officially, however, a person travels weekly to clean the jails. “At the time of my visit, it had been several weeks, or even more, that she had not been there”, assures the lawyer. In addition, no health precautions would be taken. “I did not see a single mask or any bottle of hydroalcoholic gel”, he gets annoyed. The latter also denounces the working conditions of the police: “I did not understand why there were such great tensions within the police service. Now I know. They work without a rest room, without a vacation, and especially in the middle of filth.
“In the 21st century, in a state supposed to be of law, it is a shame »
Even beyond the principle of respect for human dignity, Adrien Verrier believes that such conditions of detention have a direct impact on police and judicial procedures. “Spending an hour or two in these cells is still bearable, but 24, 48 or even 96 hours is unacceptable. It is clear that what a detainee will say in front of the police services will be disturbed by the unworthy conditions which are his in detention. Ditto for the referral to the prosecutor and then to the court. How do you want to look presentable when you can’t change, shave or freshen up?»
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For Me Verrier, it is in no way a question of calling into question the principle of police custody, “indispensable in investigation procedures”. He says to himself “neither militant nor alterglobalist”. He pleads for “elementary conditions of dignity. We don’t ask for a PlayStation in the cells, he insists. And it’s not because a guy disgusts everything that everyone has to suffer behind it. The chairman hopes that his visit will have positive consequences on the state of the jails of the Auvare barracks. “In the 21st century, in a supposedly rule of law state, that’s a shame. I’m hopeful that things will change.” he concludes.
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Contacted by Le Figaro, the Departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) of the Alpes-Maritimes defends itself and disputes some of the lawyer’s allegations. “Each individual cell has a toilet, the flushes of which are operated remotely in order to avoid clogging them, which would lead to a breach of safety and hygiene standards. Hygiene kits are made available to each person in custody. In addition, daily maintenance of all the cells is carried out, supplemented by weekly disinfection“, she justifies by means of a press release. And to add:It should be noted that some people who occupy these premises deliberately degrade and defile them.“In any event, the DDSP says it strives”to maintain the premises as well as possible while awaiting the delivery of the future Hôtel des Polices, which will offer more modern reception conditions for those in custody, but also for civil servants.»