Nearly 1,000 criminal justice professionals and individuals are calling on the president to act this Wednesday. The prison supervisor also published his “doctr
Nearly 1,000 criminal justice professionals and individuals are calling on the president to act this Wednesday. The prison supervisor also announced his “doctrine”.
“Mr. President, the opportunity is here: don’t miss it”: Around 1,000 judicial experts and individuals are calling on Emmanuel Macron to “end prison overcrowding”, in an open letter on Wednesday, as the coronavirus epidemic has led to an unprecedented drop in the number of prisoners. “For the first time in almost twenty years, there are fewer prisoners in France than there are places to serve sentences,” wrote about forty associations and professional organizations of the judiciary, lawyers, public figures and politicians.
“As a result of an unprecedented health crisis, which was impossible yesterday, is now a reality: in two months, the number of prisoners has been reduced by more than 13,500,” continue the signatories, including author Annie Ernaux, journalist Anne Sinclair, writer and director Philippe Claudel, actor Bruno Solo or director Olivier Py.
average density of 96% with crisis
With 58,926 incarcerated on May 24 – up from 72,500 on March 16, a record high – for around 61,000 operational places, France’s average prison density now stands at 96%. This historic decline, coupled with the reduction of activities for criminal detention and early release to avoid a health crisis and safe detention, “results in hope” that should not be “killed in the egg”, according to the signatories.
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They are calling on the head of state to “make every effort” to avoid being linked again to the chronic inflation of prisoners and overcrowding that led to France’s late January ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). “We expect France to no longer point fingers by the European authorities because of the inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment of prisoners,” the signatories point out.
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In March 2018, Emmanuel Macron submitted a “re-establishment” of prison sentences. The reform, which came into force on March 24, in full custody, abolished very short prison terms and promotes alternatives to imprisonment, but requires that sentences of more than one year be served.
Prison warden announces his “doctrine”
The Controller of Prisons Adeline Hazan and several associations, including the International Observatory of Prisons (OIP), estimate that this reform will not be enough to prevent a further increase in the number of prisoners. The first was just released this Wednesday, the “doctrine”: 257 recommendations developed after hundreds of visits to a prison, psychiatric hospital or detention center.
The Chief Warden of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), who will leave his post in July after six years in the job, wanted to develop an “organised and easily accessible corps”. This is a summary of all published water doctrines by the CGLPL since its inception in 2008. 257 recommendations represent the minimum basis of measures that should be taken to respect the dignity and fundamental rights of persons deprived of their liberty,” CGLPL explains in the introduction of the document.
They apply to all people “imprisoned on the basis of administrative or judicial decisions”: prisoners, sick and hospitalized without their consent, migrants who are placed in administrative detention pending deportation, minors in a closed educational center, etc. The “doctrine” is specifically addressed to persons deprived of their liberty , their relatives, those who support them, those who attend: all will be able to rely on this document “to obtain respect for fundamental rights”.
“There are not enough doctors and caregivers”
Among the first recommendations is: “No measure of imprisonment may be carried out in a bar or in a place that does not respect the dignity of the people who are imprisoned”. These words echo a 2019 CGLPL report which condemned the “deteriorating living conditions” in some prisons, where “rats and bugs are not uncommon, toilets are in poor condition, hot water is random”.
READ ALSO >> As a result of the health crisis, the judiciary wants to further limit prison sentences
Another recommendation in the long list: “lectures and professional development courses of any level must be proposed in sufficient quantity for larger persons deprived of their liberty”. “Each place of detention must have enough medical staff,” it also says. This recommendation is far from reality: a 2019 report, on the contrary, says that “in most penitentiaries, doctors and carers are insufficient”. Dentists and psychologists are especially lacking.
in addition, in order to prepare for integration, “incarcerated people should be encouraged to develop and maintain relationships with any person or outside agency that can assist in preparation for release.” “These minimum recommendations should not be seen as a model,” says CGLPL. This is “the first doctrine, brought forth to develop.”
“Nothing is done”
What will happen to these proposals? Adeline Hazan admits that the recommendations made in “full numbers over the past ten years” are “only imperfectly followed”. In her 2019 report, she even laments that the recommendations “do not provoke genuine operational consideration by public authorities”. “A few answers [of ministers] give a clear sense that nothing has been done.”
Adeline Hazan calls on the Parliament to, within the framework of its authority to supervise the activities of the Government, organize “public debates in which the members of the Government in question could also be heard”. Adeline Hazan, who was a judge, a member of the European Parliament, the mayor of Reims, and also the national secretary of the Socialist Party, is worried about the “non-stop backwards rule of law”.
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Since the creation of the CGLPL, “the context has changed”: “in 2007, the idea that closure cannot be accompanied by a violation of fundamental rights seemed to be accepted (…)”. Now, “for some, freedom has become an object of fear and by closing the way, short-sightedly, to convince themselves”, says Adeline Hazan.
Date of update: June 3, 2020, 5:58 p.m
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: newstars.edu.vn