On Wednesday March 15, assisted by several colleagues, Maître Khadija Aoudia, Bâtonniere of Nîmes, made an (almost) surprise visit to several places of deprivation of liberty in Nîmes. Interview.
As part of a national operation, you had planned to visit the following places: the remand center, the administrative detention center (CRA), the gendarmerie, the police station, and the closed educational center. In the end, you didn’t see the prison, what happened?
We had agreed to meet simultaneously at 9 a.m. with each team at a specific center. Everything went well everywhere, except at the prison. The information leaked nationally. A circular was published yesterday by the Ministry of Justice, restricting the right to visit places of deprivation of liberty to a single person, the chairman or his delegate. I was not able to carry out this check alone, it was impossible. It is an obstacle to the control of remand prisons. The supervising lawyers do not constitute a risk to public order to justify being thus limited to a single person. No control was carried out by a single person on the other visits of the same day. At the Villeneuve-les-Maguelone remand center in Hérault, they were able to enter several. I therefore refused to exercise control and bow to the interpretation and injunctions of the prison administration.
Master Aoudia, president of Nîmes, held a charity gala at the beginning of March for the victims of the giant earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
On the other hand, you were able to visit the CRA, which the Gard deputy Michel Sala had also visited four months earlier. He said he was shocked and attacks on staff were then reported in number, what did you notice?
If there were no major difficulties in terms of health, there is however no psychiatric unit. This poses a real problem, taking into account the population. A good part of those who come out of prison and today constitute the majority of detainees suffer from psychiatric disorders. They are also asking for a library! On the other hand, the conditions of detention are consistent with respect for human dignity. Detainees can move around freely and use their phones. Which was not the case six months ago. Logical consequence: deprived of liberty but accompanied by the respect due to human dignity, there is no tension. Damages have also dropped.
Where it is catastrophic, however, are the jails of the police station… They must be completely redone! There is an absolute emergency: it is overpopulation. This afternoon I saw about twenty people in custody, three on average in jails of 5 or 6m². The premises are immeasurably dirty, with smells of urine, traces of excrement on the ground… There is not a ray of sunshine, only neon lights, and no ventilation.
Two showers exist and are never used. When asked why, we are told that they are never asked to be used. And for those in custody, they are not told that they are there. When they arrive, they are given a clean blanket, but no towel.
Brown traces are visible on the floor of the cells.
How do detainees and police officers handle this situation?
These places are in violation of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the one prohibiting torture, editor’s note). Civil servants who work under these conditions also suffer from these unworthy conditions. People detained in abominable conditions are tense, weakened, under tension… Which generates conflicts between those in custody, and with the police officers. There will be follow-up, the competent judicial authorities will be seized in the weeks to come when we submit our report.
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At the administrative detention center in Nîmes: detainees in anguish, police on the alert
