The General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) Dominique Simonnot denounces the conditions of promiscuity and hygiene in the premises of police custody of certain Parisian police stations. A situation that has worsened with the health crisis.
“Inadmissible in ordinary times, these conditions of promiscuity and hygiene are even more so in times of health crisis”, Dominique Simonnot alarmed, appointed in October 2020 at the head of this independent authority, responsible for ensuring that persons deprived of their liberty are treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
17 police stations visited
Between November 2020 and July 2021, to ensure that the material conditions of reception of persons deprived of their liberty complied with the government prescriptions linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, the CGLPL visited 17 police stations, of which around ten fall under the jurisdiction of of the Paris police headquarters.
#Police the @CGLPL today publishes in the Official Journal recommendations relating to the material conditions of police custody https://t.co/Z0FPLX80G4 pic.twitter.com/nhkNrf75Kg
— CGLPL (@CGLPL) September 21, 2021
In the capital, the visits took place in the police stations of the Xth, XVIth and XIXth arrondissements. In Ile-de-France, eight police stations are part of the list: Aubervilliers, Clichy-Montfermeil, Epinay-sur-Seine, Les Lilas, Neuilly-sur-Marne and Stains in Seine-Saint-Denis, as well as Boulogne-Billancourt in Hauts-de-Seine, and finally Vitry-sur-Seine in Val-de-Marne.
The General Controller of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL), denounces the promiscuity of locals “often unsuitable and unworthy” which make it impossible to respect barrier gestures or hygienic conditions “structurally unworthy” marked by “pestilential odors” and “the accumulation of grime”.
“No particular protocol has been put in place in the context of the health crisis”
It notes, for example, the sharing of mattresses “hardly ever cleaned and even less disinfected”, the supply of a personal protective mask “almost never renewed” during deprivation of liberty – the government advocates a change every four hours – and limited access to hydroalcoholic gel.
According to the CGLPL, “no particular protocol has been put in place in the context of the health crisis”, such as regular disinfection of premises, specific cleaning of contact areas or a latency period between two uses of a cell.
In her recommendations sent to the Ministry of the Interior, Ms. Simonnot urges the administration to equip itself with police custody and detention facilities. “sized in proportion to judicial activity” and “kept in a good state of repair, maintenance and hygiene”, while ensuring access “permanently” to hygiene kits delivered “without restrictions”.
“The recurring nature of the shortcomings identified as well as the lack of improvement in this situation over the past ten years require that a comprehensive policy to rehabilitate police premises and improve hygiene be put in place today. “,
Following these visits, the controller general of places of deprivation of liberty issued six recommendations on Tuesday to improve conditions of custody in police premises, denouncing their “total indignity” in times of health crisis. All CGLPL recommendations are published this Tuesday, September 21 in the Official Journal.
In his response, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin rejected the term “total indignity” retained to qualify the reception conditions in the police stations, judging it “too categorical and too general” and founded “on the visit of a limited number of locals”.
The obligation to treat persons in police custody with dignity is “rigorously respected in the vast majority of situations”, he assured, nevertheless acknowledging “that there are premises, rare however, whose material situation is not satisfactory”.
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