- The public rapporteur for the Lille administrative court proposed that the state be ordered to compensate a former detainee from Bapaume prison in Pas-de-Calais.
- This ex-prisoner complained of systematic strip searches within the prison.
- "The strip search must be a measure of prevention and protection of public order, and not a sanction," said his lawyer.
Were illegally inflicted strip searches illegal? The public rapporteur for the Lille administrative court proposed on Thursday that the state be ordered to compensate a former detainee from Bapaume prison in Pas-de-Calais for 1,600 euros, we learned with the applicant's lawyer.
Throughout 2017, this former detainee, released in 2018, was administered 16 strip searches, told AFP, Me Alexandre Ciaudo, lawyer at the bar of Dijon and specialist in penitentiary law . However, article 57 of the law of November 24, 2009 prohibits systematic searches in prison.
An inhuman and degrading practice
The judgment must be rendered within a month but the administrative court follows the conclusions of the public rapporteur 95% of the time, a fortiori in this type of "extremely frequent" case, he added.
Me Ciaudo said he was "delighted to note" that the public rapporteur had "become aware of the illegality of the systematic nature of strip searches in detention, (...) an inhuman and degrading practice for prisoners who have not to be subject to such treatment ”.
Case law of the European Court of Human Rights
"The court applies the case law of the European Court of Human Rights by requiring that strip searches be decided on the basis of the detainee's personality and dangerousness, and not systematically," he continued. .
"The strip search must be a measure of prevention and protection of public order, not a sanction," he also stressed. If there is no search for a cell phone or a narcotic, there is no justification for this practice other than the desire to humiliate an inmate in order to have an influence over him. These are uses that must be changed. "
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