far from the “Kohlanness” controversy, rats and the establishment’s hygiene conditions are at the heart of the concerns

“We didn’t do Kohlanness, we didn’t do karting!“: the controversy was very present behind bars on the part of prisoners, who did not hesitate to say it loud and clear at the sight of the microphone of franceinfo. While Fresnes prison was put in the spotlight due to the controversy over the “Kohlanness” game organized within the establishment last July, it seems that this event does not reflect the reality of the place.

>> Karting in prison: “I understand the excitement but Fresnes is not that”, defends the director of the penitentiary center

“I understand the emotion but Fresnes, it’s not that“, thus defends the director Jimmy Delliste, that franceinfo was able to meet on site during the visit of Caroline Abadie, the Renaissance deputy for Isère, and vice-president of the law commission, Wednesday August 24th. “Fresnes is also about yoga, painting, national education activities, work, workshops… It may have offered a day to the prisoners, under the heat wave, which are not ideal conditions of detention, One can not deny it“, thus tempers the chosen one.

This parliamentary visit was above all an opportunity for the elected Renaissance – who had already come several times in recent years – to see the state of the cells and showers in this penitentiary center in Fresnes, and its dilapidated living conditions.

The facility was cbuilt in 1898, more than 120 years ago, and the living conditions there are bad: the place is very noisy, between metallic noises from the gates, resounding keys, the hubbub of the prisoners in the buildings. There is also the noise of the works, from theentrance to the establishment and into the small promenade courtyards, currently being renovated. The State was indeed ordered to renovate these courses by the administrative court of Melun in 2016, confirmed in 2021.

Work is taking place right under the windows of some inmates. But it is not these construction sites that bother them the most : according to detainees interviewed, the hygiene and privacy conditions are deplorable. Some do not hesitate to challenge us with a whole list of daily problems: “We want personal showers!”, “Instead of enlarging the courtyards, add showers“, “The showers are dirty!“, “There is not even a door for the toilets in the cells…“. They benefit from showers three times a week, five minutes each, in shared bathrooms.

And then there are rats. We were able to cross one, at the bend of a courtyard. They proliferate because of food waste, despite daily cleaning, and numerous water leaks in the building. The opportunity for director Jimmy Delliste to recognize difficulties in “fight against the proliferation of rats“, before regretting the absence of a refrigerator in the cells because of the “electric circuits”or to worry “an increase in staff in the months or years to come“while, since the first confinement, there are only two prisoners maximum per cell in his prison.