This Sunday, May 1, the family of Sacha, an 18-year-old young man who killed himself in prison on April 27, 2021, is organizing a white march in Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d’Armor), for the first anniversary of his disappearance.
The tribute will take place between three symbolic places: the prefecture, the courthouse and the prison, where the participants will release balloons.
Tried in immediate appearance in January 2021, the young man had been sentenced to six months in prison for “acts of theft” committed alone and without violence.
Confronted for the first time with the prison for adults after a brief stay in an establishment for minors, the young detainee was to be released at the end of July.
“I am exhausted”
Before taking action with a border of coverage and a lace, a few days after a first suicide attempt, the young man had sent a letter to the head of the remand center “Begging” him to split the sentence of 21 days of “disciplinary quarter” imposed on him for incidents with his fellow inmates.
In a letter, the young man had indicated that he was “at the end of the line, on the edge of the abyss” and “on the verge of suicide”. He had also unsuccessfully requested to meet with a psychologist.
Faced with the absence of answers against their son, Sacha’s parents had considered that it was a situation of “non-assistance to anyone in danger”.
Last November, the Saint-Brieuc prosecutor’s office confirmed the dismissal of the first complaint “for insufficiently characterized offense”. “At the end of the investigation, no criminal breach was attributed to the prison establishment,” said the prosecution.
Sacha was “looking for himself”
After a hectic childhood, Sacha “was looking for himself” told his mother. Fifth of a recomposed sibling of six children, he had trouble finding his place at school, then in society. So much so that his parents had asked the judge for children “around his 12-13 years” to accompany them in his education.
Alternating back and forth between the family home and specialized structures until his majority, at the beginning of November 2020, he had embarked on a training course as a cook and had a dream, to open his own restaurant.