Alert from the Bar of Lawyers of Lyon on the situation deemed dramatic within the new detention center of Saint-Exupéry. Bâtonnière and parliamentarians denounce violence and living conditions after an unexpected visit to the scene. Reporting.
Particularly serious malfunctions. This Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Marie-Josèphe Laurent, President of the Bar, and Thomas Dossus, Senator for the Rhône, held a press conference to raise awareness of the “dramatic situation” within the new administrative detention center of Lyon Saint-Exupéry.
Inaugurated in July 2022 by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, CRA n°2 is a pilot site which is intended to serve as a model for new detention centers built in France. This is what worries lawyers specializing in the defense of the rights of foreigners. Reports of violence, insufficient food rations. The Bar Association conducted a survey of those detained, followed by an unannounced visit to the center in the presence of one of our reporting teams.
“We have been alerted by several different sources to an absolutely catastrophic situation at detention center 2“, tells us Me Alain Couderc. And to set the scene a little more even before the unexpected visit to the CRA, the lawyer, member of the Foreigners’ Law Commission of the Lyon Bar, lists. “We have had alerts from doctors, we have had alerts from detainees who report violence of which they are witnesses or victims. Police violence, violence between detainees because they are not sufficiently fed.“
In February 2023, to gauge the situation, the Bar Association drew up a questionnaire on the conditions of detention in Lyon. 75 people responded, the majority of whom were retained in the new pilot centre.
“People can stay 3 months there. There is an obligation to organize activities to occupy the detainees. 98% tell us there is none. Food rations are considered insufficient by 88%. Victims of violence: 33% Victims of rape: 15% Witnesses of violence: 70%“, points out Me Alain Couderc.
This gives us an idea of the totally deleterious atmosphere that reigns in these premises.
Me Alain Couderc,lawyer, immigration law
Following this investigation, the Bar of Lyon immediately launched the alert to the general controller of places of deprivation of freedoms, and to the defender of rights. And the unexpected visit is scheduled.
On April 14, 2023, President Marie-Josèphe Laurent, Thomas Dossus, Senator for the Rhône and Marie-Charlotte Garin, MP for the 3rd constituency of the Rhône, went to CRA n°2. Strengthened by their status as parliamentarians and presidents, they come to check on the ground the results of the comparative study carried out beforehand.
The environment is ultra-secure, immediately giving the impression that the center operates on the prison model. A man declares that he spent two months in prison. “It’s better there. I’d rather be there than here“, he tells us.
These conditions of confinement and their consequences, the employees of Forum Réfugiés, in charge of the legal support of the detainees, can testify to this. “A person who will arrive in full possession of his means, we will see him decompensate as the weeks go by. Until, at a certain stage where they are at 2 months, 2 and a half months of detention, lack of care, lack of follow-up, lack of contact with the outside world or with their family, a psychic fault will take proportions that are not manageable“.
The tensions are permanent. Physical or verbal attacks are on the increase. IThe speakers from Forum Réfugiés have asserted their right of withdrawal and suspended their speeches on several occasions. The medical team of the Hospices Civils de Lyon has withdrawn and a private company provides the medical service.
Thomas Dossus, EELV senator from the Rhône, had visited this new detention center a year ago. And his observation is without appeal. “Conditions have clearly deteriorated. The living conditions for the detainees, and the atmosphere between detainees in the block… The tension has gone up a notch. There is a real suffering of the people who are held here“, he tells us.
Here, it is a pilot establishment. It looks more and more like a prison without having the same follow-ups as in prison. Here, people find themselves in much harder conditions to live with psychologically.
Thomas Dossus,Rhone senator
A completely prison universe with doors everywhere. According to the chosen one,the freedom that one should have a little more in detention is completely absent here.“
“We are in a totally catastrophic situation and, in fact, in a zone of lawlessness which is in the process of being established. What is all the more serious as it is a pilot center. That is to say that if we do not react at this stage, the same system will be installed in the new detention centers which will be created throughout France.“, recalls Me Alain Couderc.
For its part, the Rhône prefecture wishes to point out that the profile of those detained, awaiting deportation, has changed. “Priority is placed in a detention center for individuals creating a disturbance to public order (delinquents or leaving prison).” And the staff dedicated to the monitoring mission have been reinforced. The authorities are working with all the stakeholders in order to “achieve the best possible balance“. And to ensure the safety of all: police, partners and detainees.
Alerted, the controller general of places of deprivation of liberty dispatched four investigators to the new detention center. They spent four days there to see for themselves any malfunctions. Their report is eagerly awaited.