For the prison controller, the Grenoble-Varces remand center “no longer has the means to operate”

“Endemic overpopulation”, “undignified conditions of detention”… The general controller of places of deprivation of liberty, Dominique Simonnot, estimated on Friday September 29 that the Grenoble-Varces penitentiary center (Isère) “no longer has the means to function”. In recommendations published in the Official Journal, she reports having noted, during a visit in July, an occupancy rate of more than 173% in the men’s section of the remand center and “numerous structural dysfunctions”.

The controller reports “serious attacks on the dignity and fundamental rights of detained persons”. In four cells, detainees slept on mattresses on the floor, she relates for example. The independent administrative authority headed by Dominique Simonnot therefore recommends finding “alternatives to housing detainees in these buildings”. The objective of prison regulation “remain, more than ever”, responds the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, in observations attached to this report. This one still admits that the rate of the remand center “effectively exceeds 130%”.

During her visit, Dominique Simonnot also noted the presence of 23 supervisors instead of 60: one “degraded operation has become the norm”generating a “great stress” for agents. Eric Dupond-Moretti recognizes an understaffing, but according to him, the establishment has adopted “adapted operation which guarantees the protection of detained persons and respect for their dignity”. A statement contested by the independent controller. According to her, several testimonies indicate “breaches of ethics” of certain agents, evoking “bullying, disclosure of reasons for conviction, discriminatory treatment”.