While twenty prisoners recently denounced, before the courts, a “climate of violence” in the Yvelines penitentiary center, Franceinfo had access to the testimony of Mohamed, who is imprisoned there pending his trial.
Embranly by death, in May, of a young detainee killed by his cell companion, the prison center of Bois-d’Arcy, located in the Yvelines department, is at the heart of a new case. According to information from Franceinfo, Mohamed, incarcerated in Bois-d’Arcy awaiting his trial For “Participation in a criminal association for the preparation of a crime” in particular, with his lawyer, filed a complaint against X on July 16 with the Versailles prosecutor’s office, for “aggravated voluntary violence”, “complicity”, “non-assistance to anyone in danger” and “inhuman and degrading treatments”. Contacted, the Versailles prosecutor’s office, a jurisdiction competent to deal with cases in the sector, announced to Franceinfo that a criminal investigation had been opened on July 30. Solicited in this file, the prison administration did not wish to express themselves on the current legal proceedings.
The defendant, in his twenties, accuses prisoners of the remand center, but also supervisors of the penitentiary institution, of repeated threats and physical violence against him. Threatening messages and injuries were documented by photographs taken by Mohamed with a mobile phone, brought illegally into the detention center. Shorts that Franceinfo was able to consult.
According to this complaint, to which Franceinfo had access, the violence began at the end of May, following a confrontation organized by the investigators between Mohamed and a influential detained incarcerated in another prison. Mohamed partially identified man as his interlocutor in a previous case of network of migrant smugglers. An appointment that he claims to have paid dear since. “At this time, he began to receive written threats, papers under his door, like ‘you are dead’ ” ‘reports the complainant’s lawyer Rudy Albina.
A scene of violence, dated July 7, is also described: according to his story, Penitentiary administration supervisors took Mohamed apart “To hit him”then, once again in the evening, “To put disinfectant Force in the eyes. ” The defendant also accuses supervisors of having targeted it with an electrical pulse pistol, “Until he is unaware of it, telling him that they were going to continue until he committed suicide, or that he ends up in psychiatry ‘”describes the complaint.
In his complaint, Mohamed still says he was attacked on the night of July 12 to 13, after having been “Led by supervisors in the shower, where several violent fellow procrastinates were already waiting for him.
“These elements emerge a system of violence tolerated, even organized, with a manifest desire to deliver sir to his attackers.”
Extract from the complaint filed by MohamedDocument consulted by franceinfo
After several reports, Mohamed was heard on July 15 by agents of the prison center and a protection regime has been set up in the remand center, provides the Versailles prosecutor’s office. “Ouse his placement in a wing dedicated to the management of vulnerable people, [le plaignant] is accompanied in all its movements in detention and benefits from only access to a walk as well as to the shower “, Details the prison administration in franceinfo.
New violence has occurred in the following days, said the accused. Heard by judicial police officers, Mohamed notably reported an assault on the night of August 1 to 2, during which nitrogen oxide would have been introduced into the anus by supervisors. This act, which the complainant claims to have suffered, is qualified as rape by his lawyer. “The more Mohamed denounces things, the more violence intensifies”, deplores Rudy Albina.
This complaint takes place in a context of strong tensions in Bois-d’Arcy prison. The Administrative Court of Versailles was requested by 22 detainees from the prison on July 29. They accuse certain agents of “Serious breaches of ethics” And denounce night awakenings, arbitrary shower refusals, mail jets or insults and threats. All request emergency measures in the face of what they define as a “Climate of violence”. Their request was rejected by the judge in summary proceedings, considering that requests did not respond to an emergency situation.
“Inmates have taken a risk to reveal the climate of tensions and violence within the prison, And despite this, the administrative judge considers that these testimonies say nothing of the general climate “, Indigates Matthieu Quinquis, lawyer and president of the International Prisons Observatory, an organization which joined the procedure submitted by the detainees. “What level of gravity should we reach to put the honey?”, he wonders.
“We have had comebacks on facts that worry us and which reflect the inability of the administration to ensure psychic and physical integrity of the prisoners.”
Matthew Quinquis, lawyer and president of the International Prisons Observatoryin franceinfo
“There is a climate of generalized violence within the establishment”, Judge Vincent Scuderoni, lawyer at the Paris Bar and president of the Association for the Defense of Detainees’ Rights, a co -designed association in this procedure. In April 2023, administrative justice had already enjoined the State to take 12 measures to guarantee the security and fundamental rights of prisoners in Bois-d’Arcy, concerning in particular the prevention of fire risks, food hygiene or even “Respect for the dignity of the human person during excavation operations”.
The prison situation of detainees in France is regularly denounced by associations and the general controller of places of deprivation of freedom, Dominique Simonnot, but Bois-d’Arcy “Black you Lot”, estimates Vincent Scuderoni. The reports received by its association mix both “Unworthy conditions of detention” et “violence”.
The existence of violence between detainees and poor conditions of detention are also admitted and denounced by the various trade union organizations contacted by Franceinfo. However, they reject any violence committed by prison officers, or evoke isolated cases.
According to a local union representative of Bois-d’Arcy staff, who has been practicing the profession of supervisor since 2017, many factors have come into account to explain such a climate of tension in the establishment, among which “Lack of staff and lack of means”. “DThe May 6 incident [la mort d’un détenu tué par son voisin de cellule], Many colleagues have been affected by the scene and did not return to work. With this increased workload, we have less time than before to pass with each detained person“he argues in particular.
Cristing prison overcrowding in Bois-d’Arcy contributes to these tensions, denounces Andy Noel, Local Secretary Force Ouvrière Justice at the Penitentiary Center in Fresnes. “DLearned August, there was 205% overcrowding in the remand center, with 18 Mattress on the ground and 106 tripled cells: three people being contained in a 9 square meter cell supposed to be individual “he figures. As of June 1, the remand center thus had 979 prisoners for 472 places, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.
The prison administration, however, ensures that “The Bois-d’Arcy remand center has been engaged for several years in a proactive approach aimed at preventing, reducing and containing the phenomena of violence, in order to guarantee a safer environment for people detained as for the staff”. She adds that all prison agents have a duty to comply with the rules of the code of ethics. “When the prison administration notes facts likely to constitute an offense, a report is systematically sent to the public prosecutor”, insists the same source.
The sanctions applicable against penitentiary personnel may range from temporary exclusion of function to revocation, and add up criminal prohibitions to exercise functions within the administration. Mohamed made a release request, which was refused to him. He called on. He should be fixed on his fate on Wednesday.