In Vendée, the Direction of the penitentiary administration stops the actions in prison of the students of the Genepi in favor of the prisoners.
Three questions to Amy Ly, departmental manager of the Vendée association Genepi (National student education group to the incarcerated).
Remember the missions of Genepi?
Our group of students organizes sociocultural workshops in detention to recreate links between society and those in prison. We also have a mission of testimony to the public and in particular schools for the awareness of prison conditions, for the respect of the rights of detainees. We try to break the clichés about the prison, and to testify to the real conditions of detention (1) .
How did you become aware of the termination of your actions at La Roche prison?
The bad news fell on November 5 in an email from the prison of La Roche. The latter has only applied the national directive of the Directorate of Prison Administration (DAP) passed on September 20 last. We are saddened because we had excellent relations with the prison administration in Yonne. She was enthusiastic and eager to welcome Genepi members. This year, she contacted us to organize workshops.
What will be the impact on detainees?
They will have serious consequences in the context of prison overcrowding in La Roche. Inmates will be deprived of all our workshops: theater, writing, especially to help foreign prisoners write official letters. It is also the end of the film-debate workshop on the subjects of society ... But above all, the dialogue with the students of the Genepi will cruelly miss to the prisoners. For them, we are a window to the outside. We remain optimistic about the renewal of the agreement. We have just alerted the Regional Prison Directorate, in an attempt to reach an agreement.
(1) Direct attacks against the prison administration would be one of the complaints raised by the Directorate of Prison Administration (DAP) to break its national convention with the Genepi. The DAP also refers to a disengagement from the association with a decrease in its teaching actions in detention.