An inmate files a complaint for violence against five supervisors

• A woman detained at the Poitiers Vivonne remand center reports having been assaulted by five supervisors during a transfer to a disciplinary unit on February 2.
• She lodged a complaint for “willful violence in meetings” and “death threats”.
• The doctor who examined her withheld 42 days of ITT, the inmate suffering from multiple bruises and a broken arm.

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“My client lives in total terror, she sleeps with the light on, she no longer dares to leave her cell at all”, reports to 20 Minutes master Camille Van Robais, the lawyer for the 62-year-old detainee who filed a complaint against five supervisors in Poitiers-Vivonne for “voluntary violence in meetings” and “death threats”. She has applied for transfer to another remand center, and she is maintaining it, even though she knows she could extend her request for a modified sentence. On February 2, she was allegedly beaten by five supervisors on the occasion of her placement in a disciplinary unit, reports
the International Prisons Observatory (IPO)in a press release.

That day, after the search of her cell and her person, the detainee would have according to the report of the agents relayed by the OIP “screamed and banged violently on the door causing a disturbance likely to disturb order and good operation ”of the establishment and that“ the prevention [au quartier disciplinaire] and the use of strictly necessary force was the only way to put an end to the incident ”. At that time, she would also have tried to bite a officer during her placement in the disciplinary unit. This assault is denied by the inmate.

“Impressive traces”

“The wardens say they were forced to coerce her because she knocked on the doors and she started screaming when left in a room for a long time after the search, which was neither planned nor justified,” argues the inmate’s lawyer. She was beaten up in the next room, without a camera ”. After these beatings, she would have been left without care for more than twenty-four hours. Her injuries allegedly prevented her from turning on the tap, after she had unsuccessfully called for water for several hours, and she was finally “forced to drink the water from the flush” ‘OIP.

The doctor who examined him withheld 42 days of ITT. “It’s huge, a week later (her lawyer met her in the visiting room on February 9) the traces were still impressive. When you see the medical certificate, there are bruises all over your body and with a fractured arm, you are experiencing incredible violence ”. The medical examiner who examined her considered that the bruises corresponded to the facts described by the inmate and not to defensive injuries.

A “discreet” woman

In seven years of detention, no disciplinary committee has been organized for this detainee. “She is very discreet, but her personality is disturbing and she has the impression of having become the ugly duckling of the remand center,” says his advice. If she is considered psychologically fragile, her psychiatrist had given a favorable opinion on parole and her condition had improved markedly in recent years.

Contacted by the lawyer, the director of the penitentiary said she was “very surprised by these accusations” and said to keep the video surveillance images available to the prosecution. “The request to keep the videos was made by Me Camille Van Robais, who also alerted the General Control of Places of Deprivation of Liberty and the defender of rights on this case,” reports the OIP in its press release. If her arm was fractured outside this room, the images will show the back and forth and in particular the state in which she comes out.

The observatory indicates that it will be particularly vigilant on the legal consequences reserved for this case. “I hope that the complaint succeeds, we are in an exceptional case and I hope that the number of days of ITT will remove the prosecutor from his reserve”, comments the lawyer of the detainee.

The Interregional Directorate of Prison Services in Bordeaux could not be reached on Wednesday.

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