Five months after the violent attack on Yvan Colonna, several prison unions blocked Arles prison on Thursday morning. A report by the General Inspectorate of Justice and the announcement of disciplinary sanctions have triggered the anger of the unions who consider themselves “betrayed”.
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For the prison unions, the report of the General Inspectorate of Justice does not pass, in particular the very harsh words used against a supervisor. The authors refer to a “clear lack of vigilance” of this employee. According to the report, the “professionalism of this agent has been altered by routine and proximity” with Yvan Colonna and his attacker. Scandalous accusations, indignant Jessy Zagari, Force Ouvrière regional delegate for Corsica and the Paca region.
“These people who write the reports behind a desk, I would like them to come to work, not for a day but for several weeks, in the shoes of a supervisor. To see what they endure at work.”
Jessy Zagari, Force Ouvrière regional delegateat franceinfo
“I find these criticisms very easy coming from people who have not seen inmates except in a documentary”he adds, bitterly.
For Jessy Zagari, the government is trying to blame an employee, instead of taking an interest in the deterioration of working conditions in prison. He thus believes that the State should take its responsibilities. “For years, the penitentiary has been in such conditions that the fuse is the agent who does his job with the equipment and the means that have been provided to him by the administration”he explains.
After the publication of the report, which also underlined the responsibility of the former director of Arles prison, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that she had initiated “disciplinary procedures”. But Jessy Zagari affirms it: what happened with Yvan Colonna can happen again, if nothing is done to improve working conditions in French prisons.