Faced with its financial difficulties, the International Prison Observatory “calls for the support of all”

The association which works for the respect of human rights in prisons “is experiencing serious financial difficulties likely to considerably reduce its capacity for intervention”.

The French section of the International Prison Observatory (OIP) “calls for support from all”, writes the association which works for the respect of human rights in prisons in a press release, Thursday March 21. In a general context of weakening of the entire associative sector, the OIP “is experiencing serious financial difficulties likely to considerably reduce its capacity to intervene”.

“The cumulative amount of public subsidies allocated over one year thus increased from 424,211 euros to 125,107 euros.”

The International Prison Observatory

in a press release

The International Prison Observatory, French section, explains that it has lost 67% of its public subsidies in ten years. “Aid from the State and local authorities, which in 2014 accounted for more than half of its resources, today represents less than 20%”regrets the NGO in its press release.

“The deliberate choice” of certain elected officials to no longer support the OIP

The association understands that “several defections of public actors” are explained by “the reduction of their means”. But the OIP also denounces “the deliberate choice” of certain elected officials not to support “an association which can be disturbing through its denunciations and tireless struggles against the indignity of detention conditions and attacks on the fundamental rights of detained persons”. The NGO takes the “latest example” : the decision in 2022 of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CIPDR) to delete, “without explanation, its subsidy of 30,000 euros granted for many years”.

The OIP “compensates, but only in part, this free fall in public resources through the financial support of private actors linked to the justice sector, of some foundations […] and the generosity of the public”. The International Prison Observatory also ensures that its expenses, “for ten years, have not undergone significant increases which would justify the difficulties encountered today”. These expenses are “strongly controlled, stable from one year to the next and concern the salary costs of a team of ten people”. Since 2014, the association’s average budget “around 771,000 euros per year”.

4,500 prisoners or relatives of prisoners received per year

The OIP emphasizes that it “supports, through its daily information and legal assistance, several thousand detained people in understanding and accessing their rights”. On average, each year 4,500 prisoners or relatives of prisoners are received by the association’s office. She adds that “its expertise on all issues in the prison environment is recognized and requested by institutions, parliamentarians, inspection bodies, etc.” and “his publications are considered reference sources of information”. Four investigation reports have been carried out over the past four years. The French section of the OIP was created in 1996 in Paris.