The Semi-Freedom Center: A Path to Reintegration and Rehabilitation

The semi-freedom center of Montargis accommodates about fifteen detainees. Over there, we work outside during the day, then we return to prison at night. A way of not straying too far from society, in order to better reintegrate into it after having paid one’s debt to society.

“I’m doing fine, and I wish it was for everyone“. Liam is 35 years old, and after several stays in prison, he says that delinquency is now behind him. Contract in hand, he was able to benefit from a sentence adjustment. During the day he works, at night he sleeps in the center day parole.

Montargoers all know this place. In the heart of the city, the semi-freedom center holds its share of mystery for those who have never set foot there.

First a convent, then a revolutionary prison, it was a remand center that was set up within these walls until 2000. The government’s desire to close the smallest establishments, in favor of larger ones, then threatened the building. By mobilizing the staff of the time, the prison is finally transformed into a semi-freedom center.

A dozen cells are rehabilitated, each to accommodate up to four prisoners. Here, it’s prison, without being prison. Its director, Dany Mont, states from the outset “the spirit is family“. Nobody will contradict him over the meetings. The workforce indeed resembles this atmosphere described, ten people, including three supervisors working to run the structure.

In the event of a sentence of less than two years in prison, the judge may decide to adjust the sentence in the form of semi-freedom. This is also the case for detainees serving long sentences, to allow a form of airlock between detention and freedom.

“It’s like a moment of transition here, being locked up 24 hours a day and then being on your own, it’s not easy”.

Liam, 35, formerly held in Orléans-Saran prison

“Here we are heard“, recognizes Liam. Without support, some find their knowledge more easily before incarceration. Dating that sometimes leads to delinquent habits.

Day parole is like being in prison part-time. During the day, the prisoners work, in the evening, they go back to sleep in prison. “Hours adjust“explains Dany Mont, depending on the contract of each. Some also have time slots dedicated to family visits.

“My debt to society, I am not the only one to pay it, my family too”.

Liam, 35, inmate receiving accommodation

Prison weakens families. The spouse may find themselves alone raising the couple’s children during the sentence. Debts, sometimes contracted during periods of crime, also often fall on the relatives of the detainee.

Getting back to work was above all about being able to accept your mistakes, assures Liam, and continuing to assume your role as a parent.

From the outside, no one can tell if whoever enters is personal or detained. The service entrance overlooks the Briare canal, and allows the ten men who return to the center to pass incognito.

Outside then gives way to a corridor in which the ceilings are low. The atmosphere takes on the appearance of a cellar, but with yellow walls. Each prisoner finds a blue locker there, in which he can store the belongings that are prohibited to him in the cell.

Normally, at each entry, a full search is mandatory. Here it is random, in case of suspicion. “We adapt to reality” says the director first “day, I have a supervisor for the establishment. If he has to search 17 people…“And then, he continues, it would not go in the direction of peaceful relations and preparation for leaving the prison world.

Among what will remain under lock and key, the mobile phone. A rule that seems a bit outdated, given the developments in the professional world. “To look for a job, you have to be reachable by phone, by the interim boxes for example“, details Zora Benamhouda, director of the Loiret integration and probation service.

Difficult to understand, too, for prisoners who want to quickly find work, to better reintegrate. Construction companies, for example, are likely to join their future recruits at any time. A missed call can sometimes slow down the process considerably. Pôle Emploi, CAF, tax declarations, these are also all procedures that are now dematerialized.

Dany Mont supports his desire to allow smartphones. The steps are in progress with his superiors.

This former prison retains the scars of its former life, such as the garden, or the courtyard, concreted. The management of the structure wishes to rehabilitate the spaces.

A local association should soon intervene to allow prisoners to grow their own fruits and vegetables. “It’s a real symbol“Assure Zora Benhamouda.”Wait for it to grow, take care of the plantations“, so many qualities that will be essential when it comes to facing the outside world.

Partnerships are also set up to pass the highway code. Obtaining a driving license remains one of the major tools for obtaining a job, and succeeding in finding a place in society.

“When you do more than seven or eight months in prison, you need to readapt” confirms Liam. Behind bars, the days are rhythmic, always the same. “Here we are not just a number“, he adds.

“Here, it’s less robotic than in Saran. In detention, time does not pass, we only see detainees”

Arnaud, detainee placed on semi-freedom

An important point for Jessica. She has been a prison guard for seven years. Eternal enthusiast, Jessica has a communicative spirit. “Some need a framework, we are here to motivate them, encourage them“, a very different logic from the remand center or the detention center”there we lock them up“. In his eyes, prison sentences remain necessary, but readjusting prisoners to life outside in stages is just as necessary.

“The confinement plays on the brain, we see detainees degrade”.

Jessica, prison warden

“I’m not telling you they practice everything I tell them, but they listen” she explains. Sometimes you have to show authority, “in these moments I reframe them, then they apologizet”. The framework makes, according to her, the climate more favorable, and secures certain prisoners.

“The judge can do what she wants, if you don’t want to get away with it, you don’t get away with it“, in the mouth of Arnaud, prisoner, in his eyes the fate of each one belongs only to oneself.

“If prison does not kill, it degrades“, assures Zora Benhamouda, proactive in the development of alternatives to prison. probation A decision that can be revoked by a judge.