The business consultation file for the second prison project in Rivesaltes was published on October 18. It provides for the creation of a detention center of over 30,000m², for 515 new places and an estimated cost of € 142 million.
New progress in the project of a second prison in the Pyrénées-Orientales, and more precisely in Rivesaltes, with the publication, since October 18, of the public call for competition notice by the Public Agency for real estate of justice (Apij). A notice which details the construction methods of the future prison which should relieve the congestion on Chemin de Mailloles, located 14 km from the chosen site.
The current penitentiary center with 537 places will specialize in remand centers (for pre-trial detention or sentences of less than two years), while the future site, with a capacity of 515 places, will be a long-term detention center. . It is spread over four districts, in particular a trust district with 111 places, a reinforced care district with 40 places and a unit for vulnerable prisoners.
Visibility and integration of the detention center in the environment
Point qualified as “sensitive”, in the report of the guarantor of the consultation prior to the construction project of the Rivesaltes prison, the proximity of the tanks of the Arnaud de Villeneuve cellar must be taken into account in the notice of appeal. to published competition: “The establishment must be designed in such a way as to limit its visual impact on the area, in particular from the Arnaud de Villeneuve cooperative cellar. To this end, a specific landscaping treatment must be put in place at the level of the space between the cellar. and the detention center “, is it indicated. Beyond the visual aspect, it is specified that the interface between the two buildings will have to be the object of the greatest attention, in order to avoid “any interaction”.
The environmental aspect will also be taken into account for the construction of the new prison, with several species to be preserved, in particular reptiles, birds, and bats, which nest on the land chosen for the future site of the prison. The site will therefore have to adapt to the periods of reproduction and rearing of the young. As for reptiles, there is even provision for the construction of specific roosts to compensate for the displacement due to the construction. In addition, if for the time being the site is not the subject of an archaeological zoning, a preventive archeology diagnosis will have to be carried out by the Apij.
On the schedule, Apij provides for a notification of contract award for the second half of 2022, the start of work at the end of 2023, beginning of 2024, for delivery in 2026. The public inquiry procedure should be held during the first half of next year.
For Pierre Grousset of Ufap-Unsa justice: “Good news”
On the side of Ufap-Unsa Justice, this new step in the progress of the project is “Good news. Even if I was not worried, since a new prison was needed. We are reaching the breaking point, it is necessary for public safety. But we can see how far we have come”, rejoices Pierre Grousset, departmental secretary of Ufap-Unsa Justice.
The exit from the ground of this new detention center will inevitably be accompanied by job creation: “Currently, for 537 places, we have 280 prison staff. For the 505 new places, we can assume that we will be around these figures, and that is without counting all the stakeholders in the prison, nor the integration and probation counselors “, he adds.
However, Pierre Grousset tempers: “That being said, we still have four years to go. By 2026 and the delivery of the prison, and at the rate at which they are incarcerating, it will barely be out of the ground when we will again be in prison overcrowding”. Currently, Perpignan prison has more than 800 inmates for a little over 500 places.
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Pierre Grousset, departmental secretary of Ufap-Unsa Justice.
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Jean-Pierre Papy, director of the Arnaud de Villeneuve cellar: “Not a surprise”
Jean-Pierre Papy, director of the Arnaud de Villeneuve cellar, future neighbor of the new prison, this progress in the file is not “not a surprise. We know that even if we are mobilized, it will be done, and it will be done there”. The owner of the cellar now indicates that he is working with those involved in the project: “We will see with the Apij how to finance the security of our site”, he adds. The question of access is also at the heart of the discussions: “We want access that does not complicate our lives. We have to find a solution that suits everyone.”
“Mass is said, but there are still problems to be solved”, he concludes.
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Jean-Pierre Papy (left), manager of the Arnaud de Villeneuve cellar.
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