Unions of magistrates and lawyers denounced on Wednesday August 24 the reaction of the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti after a karting test at the prison of Fresnes seeing there “a demagogic and security communication dictated by the extreme right“.
Organized at the end of July in the prison of Val-de-Marne, an event called “Kohlanness“, inspired by the game show Koh Lanta, including in particular a karting event within the premises of the establishment, aroused a very lively controversy, coming in particular from the far right and the right, after images broadcast on the social networks. Visiting Fleury-Mérogis prison (Essonne) on Tuesday, the Keeper of the Seals said that if he had known that “a karting competition was organized, (he would have) put a very clear vetoto this initiative. In the process, the Minister of Justice announced on Twitter the publication of a circular to fix “the conditions necessary for carrying out reintegration projects in prison“, from now on “subject to express validation by the management of the prison administration“.
Read also“Kohlanness“At Fresnes prison: the Keeper of the Seals caught in a vice by the opposition
“The ”club med” prison”
“Two years after the condemnation of France by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for the unworthy and degrading nature of the conditions of detention in its penitentiary establishments, including that of Fresnes, and while rats and bed bugs always run there, our organizations are indignant that the Keeper of the Seals is moved by a reintegration action“, reacted in a joint press release the Syndicate of the magistrature (SM, classified on the left), the Syndicate of the lawyers of France (SAF) and the National association of the judges of the application of the sentences (Anjap).
The minister choseto agitate the populist myth of the ”club med” prison, which is too comfortable or recreational, rather than recalling the prison reality that the 72,000 inmates and prison staff in French prisons live on a daily basis“, are offended the signatories in a press release. “The Keeper of the Seals, from whom we would have expected a peaceful reminder of the meaning of the sentence and prison labor, ignores the objectives of the sentence stated in article 707 of the code of criminal procedure: the prevention of recidivism and the protection of society, which cannot depart from the reintegration of the condemned“, say SM, SAF and Anjap. Many sporting or cultural events are regularly organized in the prisons. Thus in Fresnes, in April, detainees took part in a concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France.
SEE ALSO – Karting in Fresnes: “Prison is not a fair party”