The highest administrative court on Monday ordered the Interior Ministry to improve the hygiene conditions of those in custody. Lawyer Patrick Spinosi said on franceinfo that this is a “systematic problem”.
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The Council of State ordered Monday, November 22 to the Ministry of the Interior that hygiene kits, masks and hydroalcoholic gel be systematically offered to people in police custody. France’s highest administrative court has highlighted “malfunctions” throughout the territory in terms of cleanliness and sleeping equipment and noted that hygiene kits are not “systematically” proposed. “The Council of State noted a systemic problem” concerning the cleanliness of the premises of police custody, welcomed on franceinfo master Patrice Spinosi, of the Association of criminal lawyers (Adap).
“The Council of State said that there was a difficulty there which concerned the whole of the police stations in France and that there was the possibility for a judge to oblige the administration to do what it does not do For years”, believes the lawyer. However, since these measures cannot materially be implemented very quickly, “they can not be ordered by the judge of the interim freedom, judge of the urgency”, specifies the Council of State. Patrice Spinosi sees it “a call of the foot” to seize the Council of State “in another form”, that of an appeal on the merits which will lead “during the year 2022”.
Pending such a decision, the opinion issued today by the Council of State allows the Association of Criminal Lawyers to be optimistic. “This lets us think that we have chances of being able to obtain something to improve the dignity of the premises of police custody in France”, declares on franceinfo Me Spinosi. “It is a file that has stagnated for years at the level of the ministries. It is time that this became a priority and that we finally have premises worthy of a great democracy like France.” A request will therefore soon be sent to the Ministry of the Interior so that it “respects these different requirements”.
Last September, a report from the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty, Dominique Simmonot, pointed out “total indignity”, the “unspeakable dirt” and others “pestilential odors” and “accumulation of grime” which characterized most of the 17 police custody facilities that it had inspected, out of the more than 640 that exist in France. It is in this context that associations of lawyers had initiated an emergency procedure by lodging an appeal before the summary judge.
Following this procedure, the Council of State therefore initially ordered the Ministry of the Interior to improve access to hygiene in police custody premises, in particular by distributing kits of wipes. , chewable toothpaste and sanitary napkins, which are widely available in police stations but are not routinely offered. In view of the health context, the masks of people in police custody must also be changed every four hours and hydroalcoholic gel must be offered to them.