VIDEO. Benoît, prison chaplain, wants to “restore humanity” to the Fleury-Mérogis penitentiary center

Support, listen, advise and guide. This is the mission of the women and men of faith who work in prisons, with the main motto: never judge. A role that is often crucial for some of these prisoners, whose lives have been turned upside down and who tend to be weakened by confinement. Some of them turn to spirituality in order to find meaning in a battered existence.

The documentary titled The visitdirected by Elodie Buzuel and broadcast on France 2, Sunday September 1st at 10 am, delves into the walls of the largest penitentiary center in France and Europe, Fleury-Mérogis. It follows five chaplains who accompany the prisoners. The film questions the bonds that are formed between them, as well as the limits that imprisonment can sometimes represent for certain individuals.

A man of Catholic faith, Benoît has been officiating in Fleury-Mérogis since 2013. He celebrates mass, but above all tries to quench the thirst for faith of prisoners in need, far from any form of proselytism, so that they can regain a little self-esteem. These incarcerated men “have [souvent] “lots of questions”as one of the prisoners visited by Brother Benoît says in the film, who leaves it to this man to choose whether or not to continue their conversations.We’re not going to tell you: ‘We’ll come back and see you next week’, Brother Benedict explains to this man. Because we want to respect your freedom. You have your freedom of conscience, and you are not obliged to see a chaplain again.”

Sometimes plunged into great solitude, abandoned by their family in an often painful face-to-face with themselves, some prisoners sink and sometimes attempt to take their lives, while others seek to question themselves and dream of leaving prison, better than they were. It is at their request that chaplains come to visit them, according to a law dating from 1905 governing secularism.

These exchanges, in their cell, their place of life, can prove particularly precious for them, as the kindness of a word is rare in the prison world. They often represent an escape.Restoring humanity is, for me, absolutely a priority, confides Brother Benoît. (…) The shock of detention is very, very difficult. There are no more points of reference. There are no more relationships. We have lost everything.”

But beyond this observation, the chaplain points out the errors of a failing judicial system, which sends men and women into detention who would probably be better supervised in psychiatric services. “Prison is still the last resort in the psychiatric hospital crisis. There is still a recognition of the failure of our society to get to this point,” considers the religious. “In prison, (…) there are many who could be in other situations than in detention”, adds the Catholic chaplain. According to the report by former MP Bruno Questel, in 2018, France had 1,655 qualified and approved prison chaplains, all religions combined.

The documentary The visit, directed by Elodie Buzuel, is broadcast Sunday September 1st at 10 am on France 2 and on france.tv, in the program “Le Lord’s Day”.