The revelations about Mohamed Amra, the inmate who directed his trafficking from his cell before his spectacular escape on May 14, raise questions about prison management. More and more prisoners are able to corrupt prison guards. The Eye of 20H lifts the veil on a taboo that worries all the way to the top of the State.
Behind the windows, in the closed doors of French prisons, where inmates and guards rub shoulders every day, a very real threat: corruption within the penitentiary establishments themselves.
Narcotics, bottles of alcohol, cell phones… Illicit products that certain detainees seem to have at their disposal who film themselves and even brag about them on social networks.
Some guards sell meat, phones, drugs: shit and coke.
An inmateAt the Eye of the 20H
We were able to communicate with some of them for several weeks, via encrypted messaging. However, the telephone is strictly prohibited in detention. And here what they told us :
“If I want something and I pay the price, the supervisor brings it back to me.”
“I myself bought alcohol from guards: 100-150 euros for 1 and a half liters. They give you that in water bottles.”
In a filmed sequence that he sent us, an inmate claims to have a glass of whiskey in his hand, he is in the middle of a walk.
“We bring everything into prison. Some guards sell meat, phones, drugs: shit and coke. And they raise the prices.”
“It is rarely the supervisors who propose. The inmates spread the word. It is the inmate who has the plan with the supervisor who organizes the traffic. And he takes a commission for each sale.”
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Statements that are impossible to verify. But in recent months, several corruption cases involving supervisors have emerged in the press. Latest: dhe guards at Réau prison in Seine-et-Marne, suspected of having participated in the “introduction into detention” of cell phones, alcohol or drugs. The investigating judge decided to indict them and imprison two of them on March 14.
In office since more than 15 years old, they have agreed to break the taboo of corruption in prison and reveal its mechanisms. This episode particularly marked one of them: “It’s a guard who kicks a pair of socks towards an inmate who picks it up and puts it in his bag in the visiting room. There was a phone inside the pair of socks.”
How does a supervisor bring in an illicit product? How does he give it to the inmate? “He may have taped it to him. And when he passes under the portico, it will neither be visible nor will it sound. It is often put back into service at night,” says one, “ou then, it’s hidden in a small space, in a trash can or directly in the cell”, adds the other.
There are still plenty of establishments where there are no cameras on the corridors.
A supervisorAt the Eye of the 20H
Both claim to have been approached by inmates to try to bribe them but say: “There has no interest in doing it, because behind it, we become their “whore” and they hold us. We know we’re going to be thrown out or that it’s going to be known.”
Of the inmates who do not hesitate to exploit the weaknesses of certain supervisors : “Inmates see the same staff every day. So they create a bond and they don’t hesitate to ask. They test. Et it is enough for the guard to have financial or personal difficulties, the prisoners exploit this loophole”.
While other agents may be tempted by the promise of easy money: “If they bring in something every day, they can easily double their salary. When we know that drugs can be times 10 or telephones times 5, it can be calculated very quickly.”
The prison administration turns a blind eye, that’s for sure.
A prison guardAt the Eye of the 20H
Does the prison administration take these threats seriously? “Those who are caught in the act, she encourages them to resign. The administration has a little kindness and she tells them: “you will not have administrative repercussions”, she turns a blind eye, that’s for sure.”they say.
Corruption in prison, a highly sensitive subject that has long remained taboo. Which the prison administration is today trying to prevent. A questionnaire, called “Deontometer”, was given last March to all supervisors. 48 concrete situations. And for each of them, several possible responses or attitudes: from the most ethical to the least ethical.
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Solicited, theThe Ministry of Justice claims to have put an action plan in place for several years and to tackle the problem at the root: “Someone who brings prohibited products into detention is someone who endangers the detainees, but who also endangers his colleagues. There is no leniency, on the contrary. There is severity and responsiveness from the prison administration towards this type of incident. As soon as there is a suspicion, a report is immediately sent to the public prosecutor’s office. And an investigation is systematically opened.” concluded Cédric Logelin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice.
Between 2018 and 2023, 22 prison officers went before the disciplinary committee for corruption. Among them, 19 were revoked. They were all subject to criminal sanctions.
The “Deontometer”, questionnaire intended for prison administration professionals in order to “promote the transition from the code of ethics to applied ethics“.
Report of the Senate committee on drug trafficking, published on May 14, 2024.
Justice in France. Prison staff.
Prison guards, details of the 2023 reform.