“This Monday, we had 7 confirmed cases and 13 contact cases”, declares Nordine, local secretary of the UFAP-Unsa justice union. This Tuesday, three prison staff were also declared contact cases.
“Since the week of December 27, there was almost one case detected every day”, testifies Nordine. “Each time, it is the commotion of battle. If the person is alone in the cell, that’s fine. But if there are several, as is often the case, it snowballs …”
A world that is essentially closed, overcrowding, barrier gestures that are difficult to enforce … The prison world presents fertile ground for clusters, in times of a galloping pandemic. Particularly at the Nice remand center, with more than half a thousand inmates and a chronically excessively high occupancy rate.
“Any new entrants go to other establishments, Grasse or Draguignan”, confirms the public prosecutor of Nice, Xavier Bonhomme.
Restrictions in view
In 2021, the establishment had housed two clusters of Covid-19. At least 16 positive cases in February (the Grasse remand center was declared a cluster the same month). Then a good thirty last fall. “It lasted eight weeks. A lot of supervisors were affected, even hospitalized”, testifies Nordine.
What impact this time around? “The measurements will be strong enough, warns the union representative. More activity of the National Education, more cultural activities … Legal and medical extractions are maintained. The visiting rooms too, with plexi. Chaplains can come there. Exits and showers are done separately for positives. “
It is in this context that the ex-companion of Lisa T., accused of feminicide in Madeleine, was imprisoned in Grasse rather than in Nice, Monday evening, according to his lawyer Me Benjamin Taïeb.
The judicial and prison authorities are currently discussing the situation on Tuesday morning. However, Nordine does not feel any concerns at this stage. “We have already been clustered three or four times: we are prowled! But it’s harder to manage a remand center without school or cultural activities than with.”
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