Paris (AFP)
The Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, announced Friday the construction of three "experimental prisons" focused on the training and work of prisoners to prepare for their reintegration.
The three establishments, each with 180 places, will welcome prisoners sentenced to a sentence of less than five years and will direct them to training or work carried out inside the prison, in partnership with local businesses and local authorities. .
"It is an experimental prison through work. (...) It will work as in a business with a job interview, a salary ... We will target areas with high added value such as digital", explained Ms. Belloubet at the regional daily La Voix du Nord.
The government will first launch "without delay" the construction of a first prison of this kind in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), according to a press release from the Chancellery. The works of the two other establishments, in Donchery (Ardennes) and Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle), must start "in 2022 and 2023".
"I am convinced that to fight recidivism, people must be trained and have access to a job," added the Keeper of the Seals.
These new prisons will aim to obtain for "100% of prisoners", a job, training or to enroll them in a professional path, according to the ministry.
To improve the reintegration of detainees, the government is also counting on the creation of 2,000 places in other dedicated prisons, called "support structures towards exit" (SAS).
These specialized establishments must accompany prisoners who are less than two years from their release, to prepare for their return to society - work, housing, health, etc.
"The idea is to have a form of gradation depending on the care taken at such and such a time in the prisoners' journey," said Ms. Belloubet.
A prison of this kind is already operational in Marseille. Three others are to open "from 2020" in Poitiers (Vienne), Bordeaux (Gironde) and Longuenesse (Pas-de-Calais), according to the ministry.
© 2020 AFP