“We are disconnected, like in a bubble”… When Christmas takes place in prison

• During a report in prison,

  20 Minutes

  made the touching meeting of Capucine (the first name has been changed).

• Detained for ten years, she hopes to be released within a year or two in order to continue her studies which she began in detention.

• While most families will be reunited for Christmas, the issue of the isolation of women in detention raises questions.

When Christmas approaches, some prisoners in Rennes prison receive a small package from their family.

The constraint ?

Find someone who can bring it personally during a visit.

Not always easy.

Here, the women who are imprisoned are all sentenced to long sentences and come from all over France, sometimes from Guyana.

Without close family, many of them experience extreme isolation, deprived of any contact with the outside world.

"We do not forgive the crime to a woman", sometimes summarizes the prison staff.

Because the acts of which they are accused have often been committed against their partner or the children, these women lose a family bond that detention cannot restore.

And live with a label of criminals that we can never forgive.

During a report in the enclosure of the central house of Rennes,

met Capucine (the first name has been changed).

Imprisoned for ten years, she agreed to talk to us about this rupture of the link with the outside world.

Capucine, do you receive visitors regularly?

Yes I have this chance.

Here, some women never see anyone.

Me, I sometimes see my son in the visiting room.

He is ten years old and I have seen him grow since prison.

When I came here ten years ago, I was pregnant with him.

He's my little guy.

He's the only one who comes to see me.

At the beginning, I had two friends who came to see me but they stopped.

I can understand, they came from afar and time has passed.

I had a few exchanges by mail but I ended up stopping, because I had nothing more to say.

I was very close to a prison visitor too, but she got sick and she can't come anymore.

I had established a very strong friendship, I didn't want to talk to anyone else.

Do you have any friends here in detention?

Yes, I have friends.

I know a lot of people here.

Not everyone but a lot of people.

I know that my career has also been talked about (Capucine has resumed studies and obtained two degrees in history and art history since her incarceration).

Everyone knows each other here because we are in a closed environment.

We are disconnected from the outside world, like in a bubble.

I have friends who came out of here too.

At the beginning, we promise to keep in touch and then afterwards, everyone resumes their lives and they forget.

I don't blame them, they have a lot to think about to reintegrate.

Do you know when you can go out?

I made a request for sentence adjustment but I need a solid file, to make sure that I will be able to have accommodation, a job or studies.

I want this second chance, I feel like I have the right to it, even if I have a debt vis-à-vis the victim.

I hope to be able to start releasing in late 2023 or early 2024. It's both short and far at the same time.

In prison, you lose track of time.

How do you see the output?

I would like to have day parole to continue my studies and perhaps work at the same time.

What I would like is to work in a museum.

Normally, I should have an internship next year but I'm waiting for it to be official.

How do you imagine life outside after more than ten years in prison?

I'm afraid to go out, like many people here.

When the girls go out, life shakes them up.

Me, I'm afraid of going out because we go through a lot of emotions.

Do we have the right to be there?

Are we done paying?

I have seen girls sink into depression.

One even committed suicide.

We need an entourage, a framework, someone who holds our hand.

I want to rely on someone for the first time.

I don't even know where I will go because I'm not from Rennes.

But my son is not far away and I would like to find him, to resume my role as a mother.

Is finding a job important to you?

Yes, because I went back to school for that.

But I am lucid.

I am 50 years old.

Who's gonna want to hire me?

And am I going to tell my employer that I have a record?

I don't want to hide it but I don't want everyone to know either.

I don't want to be judged.

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• reindeer

• Brittany

• Christmas

• Jail

• Women

• Company

• Justice

• Inmates

• Prisoners