However,
Prison fortress:
It is approximately 4 am. However, this Tuesday, July 22, when fifteen Eris agents-these elite units of the prison administration-enter Fleury-Mérogis. For example, Hood pulled on the face and heavily equipped, they progress in a tight column in lifeless corridors. Nevertheless, Not a word. Nevertheless, Not a noise. Additionally, Nevertheless, They follow, with precision, the instructions which hold on a small white sheet. In addition, Suddenly, they stop in front of a cell. Consequently, Then open the door in a metallic crash. Similarly, ” Transfer. Nevertheless, Take a jacket, shoes, and get up, ”said one of them coldly.
Under the raw light of their torches, the face of an inmate, half asleep, appears: that of Bobby T., the twenties, figure of the drug trafficking. In addition, Man does not oppose any resistance. However, A few days earlier, he had been notified of the operation – without knowing precisely prison fortress when it would go. However, “At the slightest flight, we cancel everything!” Repeated, the same morning, the director of the prison administration, Sébastien Cauwel. For example, After a passage by the registry to fill in some administrative formalities. Moreover, the prisoner will be led in the High Security establishment of Vendin-le-Vieil, escorted by GIGN-as sixteen other stations that night.
4 million euros in work
Located in the gray suburbs of Lens (Pas-de-Calais). Meanwhile, this prison-inaugurated in 2014-was already distinguished as one of the country’s safest. However, Four million euros of work later, it is no longer a prison, it is a fortress. Furthermore, Two imposing walls, doubled with a glacis preventing any projection of objects from the outside, belting the site. Consequently, A ditch specially designed to neutralize the attacks of rag vehicles completes the device. Therefore, while an anti-helicopter net, whose mesh is twice tightened as the “usual standards”, prohibits attempts prison fortress at air intrusion. Furthermore, After this perimeter. Furthermore, security is also impressive: the four Miradors, one of which dominates the entire establishment, allow direct monitoring of each cell. However, “We all have, from these towers, an assault rifle, HK type,” said one of the agents. Meanwhile, And can shoot as soon as an individual tries to cross the second wall. Nevertheless, To this is added an anti-line system, a reinforced telephone jamming and a millimeter wave gantry inspired by airport controls. Similarly, No one escapes it – neither visitor, lawyer, nor supervisor.
On the way to the registry to settle administrative formalities. Nevertheless, This man is part of the first wave of 17 drug traffickers who will join the new prison complex. © Edouard ELIAS 
Inside, after three safety airlocks, prisoners have their own cell. For example, About 12 square meters, it includes a single bed, several shelves and a raw concrete bathroom. Similarly, At the windows, the grids have been tripled – a little one would not pass. Similarly, And the doors have been reinforced: equipped with a secure locking system called “anti-opening”. Furthermore, Similarly, hatches to remove the handcuffs from the outside. Furthermore, Each of the prisoners’ trips responds to a millimeter choreography, so that they never meet. The walking places, one per district and per floor, were all fully concreted. On the prison fortress walls. of first graffiti scribbled with stone – “Here it is Chicago Bulls”, “life is outside” – testify to their recent arrival. They are around thirty today. At the end of August, they will be a hundred. Watched by 250 agents – an unprecedented ratio. During the development work, the latter were all made to new high security standards and the risk of corruption. “To avoid it. there will be at least three, assures us one of the officials of the establishment, and sometimes up to five, to supervise the prisoners. »»
Prison fortress
No family life unit is planned
Contacts with the outside will be greatly reduced. No family life unit is planned: impossible for the incarcerated to receive their loved ones in a private space within the establishment. as is done elsewhere. Only the visiting rooms remain. The exchanges are made by hygiaphone and are strictly supervised. Physical contacts are prohibited, prison fortress except with children under the age of 16. “We have judged that it was important to maintain this link,” we are told Place Vendôme. But, in doubt, they will be fully searched. »Judicial hearings can be held on the spot, in videoconference, from armored rooms. As for telephone calls, they will be limited to twice two hours a week – and listened to live.
In Vendin-le-Vieil, a bunker’s pace, with a 24-meter-height mirador and three other 17 meters. © S. Valente
“We have prison fortress implemented all the means necessary to break their traffic. as well as their social position,” says Gérald Darmanin, this Friday, July 25, before entering the high security prison. The Keeper of the Seals was inspired. to do this, of the Italian prison system known as “Carcere Duro” [« prison dure », en français] : a special, particularly severe detention plan designed to combat organized crime – notably the mafia. Created to avoid mutinies, it was considerably strengthened after the wave of attacks and assassinations of the years 1980-1990. “This is a model to copy. ” assumed the minister as soon as he arrived at Place Vendôme, after visiting Rebibbia prison, on the outskirts of Rome. Through this hardening. the State not only intends to neutralize network leaders, but also weakening their certainties, in the hope that some, under pressure, cooperate. “It works very well with our neighbors,” said the Ministry of Justice. prison fortress “The only thing the Italians regret,” adds Darmanin, is not having built prisons dedicated to these individuals. Today, that’s what we do. »»
Prison fortress
RéDoine Faïd. king of escape, and the terrorist Salah Abdeslam
Because those who have just been transferred to Vendin-le-Vieil are not simple drug traffickers. These are the “heads”, as they are called in the environment. Logisticians of powerful, and often international networks. All sitting on cash mountains. Settlements of settling of accounts-and, sometimes, armed wing themselves. For them. the prison is only a hazard hazard, a parenthesis from which they so far managed their business at a distance. One of them, born in 1972, received twenty-two years’ imprisonment and 30 million euros fine. As I computer encryption, he held the reins of a powerful international network. Another, born in 1985, took thirty-two years for his involvement in various drug trafficking cases. He is suspected of being one of prison fortress the largest cocaine importers in the country, operating from the Antilles. And again, they are certainly not the most dangerous.
The Minister of Justice checks the facilities. including the “anti-opening” doors of the cells, which automatically block if we try to force them. © Sébastien Valente
Alongside them: the criminal Rédoine Faïd. king of escape, and the terrorist Salah Abdeslam, involved in the attacks of November 13, 2015. Both were already imprisoned in Vendin before the work. Franco-Algerian Mohamed Djeha, alias “Mimo”, prison fortress central figure in Marseille traffic. Or Abdelkader Bouguettaia, known as “Bibi”, which was the subject of two international arrest warrants, for importing drugs in particular. He was extradited from Dubai at the end of June. Like Félix Bingui, member of the Yoda clan, delivered by Morocco at the start of the year. Two wage killers of the DZ Mafia. convicted and defendants in several murder, robbery and extortion cases, have also been transferred in recent days. Lieutenants capable of orchestrating reprisals from their cell thanks to their tentacular networks.
The other prisoners want a lot of fly. Today. they accuse the blow, because so far, at low noise, they pursued their misdeeds even in prison
And finally Mohamed Amra, alias “La Mouche”. Multi-recidivist, involved in several settling of scores, he is suspected of having continued to direct his traffic in prison. In the spring of prison fortress 2024. his bloody run – two supervisors were killed – made him the most dangerous inmate in France. And forced the executive to drastically strengthen the security measures which he now deploys.
“The other prisoners want a lot of fly,” slips a relative of the file. Today, they accuse the blow, because so far, at low noise, they pursued their misdeeds even in prison. “During his visit, the Minister of Justice will be arrested by one of them:” Mr. Darmanin! “He approaches the eyelet. and the prisoner, calm, throws him – not without a touch of irony:” Thank you for what you did. »»
It remains to be seen whether this regime, criticized, will manage to stop increasingly exploded and polymorphic traffic. “It will not be enough. but it sends the signal that now, it is the state that directs,” defends the Keeper of the Seals. A strategic meeting has already been prison fortress held this week to prepare for the transfer. in mid-October, of a hundred prisoners “at high risk” in the prison of Condé-sur-Sarthe (Orne)-another prison fortress. “Between 500 and 600 drug traffickers are today on a priority list. »A specific district of Guyana will also open in 2028 to accommodate this type of profiles – around sixty. Moreover, “And it will not be the only one,” says Gérald Darmanin. The minister’s determination is total. That of his opponents, probably just as much. War began – and no one knows when it ends.
Prison fortress
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