“Prison does not leave anyone indifferent“. This is the starting point of “Fragments of prison, lived stories”, published by Éditions du Cherche Midi by Véronique Sousset. The director of the women’s prison center in Rennes recounts, through a series of portraits, encounters, a bit of what happens inside the prison world.She was the guest of France Bleu Armorique this Tuesday.
From prison warden to writer, there is a world. Why did you want to write this book?
Because I love words, I love writing. It’s not a testimony, it’s really a book that wants to be a literary object with a real narration. I wanted to say prison differently and through the prism of encounter. It is not a Memento on the functioning of the prison, on the prison institution, but in small touches, it does indeed give some keys to understanding this somewhat unknown world.
It’s a world that is essentially quite closed, which we know little about, apart from the representations we can have. In reality, is detention more like a four-star hotel or a dungeon?
You see, there, we are in full representation. So it’s neither. This book is also really about deconstructing some prejudices, some preconceived ideas. We know that prison does not leave anyone indifferent. Everyone has an opinion, it’s very divisive. My book does not only speak, even slightly, of the women’s prison in Rennes. It’s really encounters over twenty years with portraits like that. These are 28 texts, 28 portraits, 28 meetings and we learn a bit about terms that are really widely used: what a canteen is, what a sachet of yeast can mean. Small anecdotes, but which also tell what is happening behind these high walls.
Do you really have time to interact with the prisoners on a daily basis?
Yes, it is even the essence of the profession. When you are the director of an establishment, of course, you supervise, you manage, you set the course, but our users, admittedly constrained, but users of the public penitentiary service, are the inmates. Of course you have to go to the front and exchange. It’s an integral part of the job.
If we arrive in prison, it is because we have committed misdemeanors, sometimes crimes. Can you get over it? For example, in the book, you mention your exchanges with Patrick Henry or even the fake doctor Jean-Claude Romand. They are still quite rather sordid crimes.
Apart from Patrick Henry, I don’t quote anyone, I leave the interpretation to the reader, I give a few leads. I don’t think we can ignore it, that’s also part of the singularity of these encounters which are therefore extraordinary and we must never forget, of course, that there are victims. It is precisely this subtle balance between how one carries out one’s mission of reintegration, preparation for release, even remotely, and the place of the victim and what has been committed. It’s all this ambiguity, this difficulty, but you never ignore it, you have to allow yourself this necessary distance.
Véronique Sousset, author of “Fragments of prison, lived stories”, will be at the Ouest-France space of the Librairie Le Failler, in Rennes. Tuesday, May 3, at 6 p.m.