Mathieu Quinquis, lawyer at the Paris bar and member of the board of directors of the French section of the International Observatory of Prisons, believes Wednesday March 30 on franceinfo that it is necessary “both surveillance staff but also social guides” in prison, in order to avoid an attack like the one that caused the death of Yvan Colonna at the central house in Arles on March 2.
>> Death of Yvan Colonna: an investigation report explains, in part, why no one intervened during the attack at Arles prison
franceinfo: Are you expecting explanations from the prison administration?
Matthew Quinquis: Obviously. A criminal investigation is underway, but also an administrative investigation at the initiative of the government. It is hoped that this report will be made public so that everyone can also form their own opinion. There are a number of questions about the detention regime for people placed under DPS status [Détenu particulièrement signalé] and some misunderstanding about what this diet entails. The status of DPS is a status which is not intended for enhanced surveillance, but which aims to follow precisely the prison trajectory of a certain number of people who, because of their reason for imprisonment and their behavior in detention, are the subject of particular attention. The administration puts in place a number of control and surveillance measures, which may lead to regular searches of the detainee, his cell or his relatives. There may be security rotations, that is to say regular changes of establishment, and also reinforced monitoring of correspondence and links with the outside world.
No one saw the attack for eight minutes: is that understandable to you?
Indeed, we cannot put a supervisor behind each inmate. I believe that we should not regret it on the material level, but be satisfied with it in terms of respect for the rights of detainees.
“You just have to imagine what it would mean for them to be constantly controlled and monitored. The only prisoner who is subject to this measure in France was able to mention during his trial the impact on his psychology, on his his daily life.”
Mathieu Quinquis, lawyer and member of the board of directors of the OIPat franceinfo
It is an extremely rigorous detention regime, including for DPS. We must not let believe that today, there is a form of levity in the way the prison administration treats these detainees, on the contrary. The case of Yvan Colonna was able to demonstrate it: he was refused a certain number of measures, in particular family reunification for years, for this reason. It is indeed a security measure that limits and restricts the rights of detainees.
Is this aggression due to a lack of means and personnel?
I believe that this aggression refers above all to the failure of a certain way to apprehend the question of security in detention. For years, the Ministry of Justice has increased the size of the walls, increased the number of bars, created airlocks inside establishments and installed new cameras. What this attack confirms is that all these passive devices are not enough to ensure effective security in detention. In reality, dynamic security is needed involving both custodial staff and a range of other professionals, including social workers and people who can be attentive to the behavior, attitudes and feelings of detainees, to prevent such attacks.
Should the monitoring and knowledge of these detainees be improved?
It is the knowledge of these inmates [qu’il faut améliorer]. It is necessary to create spaces of communication between the detainees and the prison administration to lead to a pacification of the daily reports in detention. We know that the prison environment is an extremely violent environment. A certain number of tools must be put in place to reduce this level of violence. It is not by placing detainees in extremely rigorous detention regimes that are difficult to bear on a daily basis that we will succeed in pacifying detentions.