how to stop contamination?

The Covid contamination, on December 27, of the most closely watched detainee in France, Salah Abdeslam, shed light on the health situation in French prisons. While the number of contaminations reached records in France, due in particular to the surge of the variant Omicron, more contagious, “31 establishments (penitentiaries) are in a cluster situation”, indicated the Chancellery on Thursday. According to Franceinfo, only 47% of the prison population has a complete vaccination schedule. “The very strong reluctance of the detainees partly explains the low vaccination coverage,” explains the Ministry of Justice.

Isolation measures and screening operations

In all, as of January 4, 863 inmates were infected among the approximately 70,000 detainees, and 1,029 among staff members, numbering around 40,000. This represents 1.23% of the prison population and nearly double the number. for supervisors. The previous report, the day of the contamination of Salah Abdeslam, December 27, reported 370 detainees and 448 contaminated agents.

Positive detainees are “isolated from the rest of the detention”, in specific quarters or wings, the ministry said. In an attempt to stop the spread of the epidemic, screening operations have increased in recent weeks, especially in remand centers in Besancon (Doubs) and Dijon (Côte-d’Or), after the discovery of cases.

A large cluster in Villepinte

The largest Covid cluster is located at Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis) remand center, north-east of Paris: “Today we have 179 people detained who are positive. We climbed to 202 on January 1, ”said the director of the remand center Michaël Merci, ie more than 20% of the prisoners. Villepinte has 988 prisoners, for an operational capacity of 543 places in principle. “Overcrowding is our main problem”, explains the prison doctor, as reported France Inter.

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28 employees were also infected. However, measures were taken “immediately”, as soon as “the presence of the Omicron variant” was known within the prison, assured its director. Collective activities (library, sports hall) have been abolished, as well as work in workshops. Full-body suits and FFP2 masks were distributed to supervisors and inmates who continue to work (laundry room, kitchen, distribution of meals, etc.).

Visiting rooms have also been removed for positive detainees or contact cases. For the others, they are maintained with a plexiglass wall over the entire height. “If within 15 days, there is no epidemic resumption, we will be able to reduce restrictions”, hopes the director.

The wait for a “special measure”

“We condemn someone to prison, not to catch the Covid,” lamented the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), Dominique Simonnot, on Franceinfo on December 29. “I find it lamentable, worrying, also on the part of the judges who continue to send people to prison despite being aware of the health situation. We are told “we must respect barrier gestures”, but how? We had fallen to 58,000 detainees, we went back to 69,992 ”, she added. She also regretted a lack of consideration by the government, indicating that a “special measure would be beneficial”.

“If we do not act quickly, the risk of malfunction is very high. With the increase in the prison population, the potential for contamination is much greater than in 2020 ”, abounds the secretary general of Ufap-Unsa Justice, Wilfried Fonck. In 2020, the then Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, asked for the early release of people at the end of their sentence to relieve the congestion in prisons.

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