discovering the only penitentiary district reserved for women in Europe

It is called the “QPR”, for Radicalization Support District. This center, located in Rennes, in Ille-et-Vilaine, received its first prisoners in early September 2021, a year ago.

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It is a place where one does not easily enter: franceinfo took advantage of the visit of two deputies, because parliamentarians are authorized to present themselves by surprise at any time in any prison on French territory. In this case, it was Frédéric Mathieu, deputy for the 1st constituency of Ille-et-Vilaine, and Ségolène Amiot, elected from the third constituency of Loire-Atlantique. Both were elected this year and sit on the benches of Nupes, with the label France Insoumise (LFI).

This radicalization management district represents a very small part of the very large Rennes prison, built in 1879 on nine hectares, hexagonal in shape and lined with arcades. This prison is the only one in France to be exclusively reserved for women. Formerly away from the city, in the countryside, it is now located close to Rennes train station, in the city center. The QPR building stands on three floors, ultra-secure and completely independent of the rest of the detention: the ten women who are currently incarcerated there never meet the other prisoners.

The energetic and enthusiastic director of this penitentiary centre, Véronique Sousset, makes the visit. “Here is the promenade courtyard, there is a treatment room”, she points. The blue and white paintings are recent. There is a double grating at the windows. The cell doors are fitted with handcuffs. “The idea is that this is anything but an improved isolation wardshe explains. The goal is not for them to stay in their cells, that would make no sense.

“For good care of these women, you have to see them outside their cells, in interaction or during individual interviews. They therefore have a fairly dense schedule.”

Véronique Sousset, director of the prison

at franceinfo

Some detainees are awaiting their trial, others have already been judged, for attempted attacks for example. This is where, for example, the 22-year-old young woman arrested last week in Enghien-les-Bains in Val-d’Oise could end up with a cutter and jihadist documents in her bag. This is where some of the women repatriated from the Kurdish camps in Syria should also be incarcerated. Sixteen returned in July, including the widow of one of the Bataclan suicide bombers, Samy Amimour.

“There are among the detainees in this neighborhood, women who had the inclination to join the combat zones in the territories of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. They sometimes fantasize about what they have not seen, not experienced. And then, some of these prisoners went there. And at home, the priority is often to treat the post-traumatic stress of things seen and experienced”says the director of the prison. “The detainees are between 25 and 50 years old. Their care also depends on whether they have children or not, whether these children have returned or not, placed or not, whether there is still a father or “He died. There are as many situations as singular stories”adds Véronique Sousset.

Work will take place in the coming months to expand this radicalization management district. In the long term, it will welcome 29 women with an extended possibility of nursery for their children when they are less than 18 months old.

The inmates of the QPR divide their days between various activities. They regularly see psychologists and educators, attend workshops on parenthood, but also more cultural: a piano is even close to the cells. These women also take courses in history or geopolitics. “We call on Islamologists whose mission is to accompany the detainees so that they gently manage to distinguish for themselves what is Islam from what is terrorist ideology.develops François Toutain, director of the penitentiary service of insertion and probation. The goal is to gradually awaken their critical spirit. In partnership with the University of Le Mans, it very regularly organizes major conference cycles. The teachers come inside the penitentiary to talk in turn about Wahhabism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or Shiism, for example.

“As it is about direct and nourished exchanges in small groups with teachers, specialists, it bears fruit and they take a step back from the certainties they thought they had. Thus a disengagement from violence and radicality occurs in stages.”

François Toutain, director of the penitentiary integration and probation service

at franceinfo

In parallel with this work, there are many sports activities: bodybuilding two by two in a room with several machines, more collective sport in groups of five, once a week, in the prison gymnasium. Not to mention the weekly interventions inside this district of a Paralympic vice-champion who supports them individually, like a sports coach. “Through sport, we actually work on social reintegration. The relationship to the body is very important for these women who have often hidden for years behind hijabs”, explains François Toutain. In this area where radicalization is handled, the veil is not authorized outside the cells.

These women, who are placed there for a period of six months renewable – and almost always renewed – are also constantly evaluated, and they know it. During regular multidisciplinary commissions, it is a matter of observing how their relationship to violence and radical Islam evolves. The goal for management is to thwart the “taqiya”, this technique of dissimulation aiming to make believe in a de-radicalization which would in fact be feigned. The guards, all volunteers to work in this sector of detention, are obviously at the heart of this system. They are chosen by a jury for their exemplarity and receive specific three-week training, with physical reinforcement and workshops on Islam and jihadism.

After one year of operation, this QPR has not recorded any incident. Two women were even able to leave the scene. One has returned to conventional detention, the other has been released, and several are expected to follow soon. The professionals on the spot welcome this while remaining humble because everyone knows how much in this matter one must protect oneself from any triumphalism. “What is happening in this establishment in Rennes is undoubtedly positive, but we must be careful not to paint an idyllic picture”comments Me Emmanuel Daoud, who defends two returnees from Syria who arrived this summer from the Syrian camp of Roj.

Incarcerated in Île-de-France, they are absolutely not taken care of in the same way according to him, and this is the lot of most. One of the two is even in solitary confinement, with therefore almost no link. “If we have de-radicalization neighborhoods sized in this way to accommodate a maximum of 30 women in a few years after the work, it is very largely insufficienthe explains vehemently. And I wonder about the inability of the Ministry of Justice to acquire additional financial resources to ensure that the human and material resources necessary for the care of these women are increased.

“We are not talking about tens of millions of euros and we cannot say that time has run out because we have been waiting for these reunions for four years.”

Me Emmanuel Daoud

at franceinfo

For him, we must think on a much larger scale. “The idea is absolutely not to give these women preferential treatment, the idea is to help society through their follow-up to understand what happened, how young French women left in these combat zones. Understanding this is an absolute necessity for them but also so that it does not happen again and to protect our security even today”he adds.

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To this day, around a hundred French women remain in camps in Syria. With them are nearly 250 children, most of them very young. The European Court of Human Rights condemned France 8 days ago for several refusals of repatriation.