They are approximately 1,500 detained for acts of terrorism or considered as radicalized, but their care is not satisfactory. Author of a report published Wednesday, the General Controller of places of deprivation of liberties (CGLPL), Adeline Hazan, deplores at the microphone of Europe 1 the "lack of vision" of the prison administration. Whether in solitary confinement, in dedicated neighborhoods or in traditional detention, the treatment of radicalized prisoners leaves something to be desired. A problem while 71 of these detainees were released last year, 43 are due to be released this year.
"We created a specific category of detainees, for people who are actually very different"
They are the "TIS", convicted or in pre-trial detention for acts of "Islamic Terrorism", or the "DCSR", common law prisoners monitored for their radicalization. The doctrine concerning them changed in 2018, with the development of Radicalization Assessment Quarters (QER), then determining their orientation according to their degree of dangerousness, their violent potential or their degree of proselytism. But the criteria are opaque and discriminating according to Adeline Hazan. "We have created a specific category of detainees, for people who are in fact very different," she deplores, "we apply an extremely secure regime which does not respect the fundamental rights of people."
In her report, she pointed out that the classification of an inmate in the DCSR category was never communicated to her. "The psychologists who work with them cannot tell them, and take information which is then transmitted to prison intelligence, which poses ethical problems. They sometimes discover during workshops presented as the fight against recidivism, that 'They are considered to be radicalized,' denounces Adeline Hazan at the microphone of Europe 1. She calls for more transparency and a right of appeal.
Workshops that struggle to be sustainable
As for the various workshops, the various visits made by its teams revealed several difficulties. "Several establishments have adopted programs to prevent violent radicalization (PPRV) without succeeding in perpetuating them" points out the report which concludes: "If the activities are varied (sculpture, creation of furniture, photography, sophrology, conference-debates ... ), these programs are struggling to reach their audiences. " In Lyon, the sessions were held but in the presence of a majority of detainees not concerned by radicalization, "we fill up" for lack of volunteers, admitted an agent to the CGLPL. At the Lille-Annoeullin penitentiary center, it was a lack of training and availability of animators that ended the program.
Finally, other programs do not say their name: it is "presented as a discussion group 'with philosophers, CNRS researchers', without more precision than the prevention of recidivism or violent acts" , notes the report about an activity proposed at the remand center of Fleury-Mérogis.
These programs are "growing in strength," replied the prison administration, which has deployed them in 59 establishments and insists on selected activities "by a multidisciplinary team (psychologist and educator of the support pair, prison integration counselor and probation, supervisory staff, etc.) depending on their relevance to the profiles followed, care first being individualized. "
"The management of the proposed 'radicalization' appears to have no effect"
The CGLPL report, which recognizes that security imperatives are justified by the profile of some and by the fact that the prison administration faces many challenges, including that of overcrowding, nevertheless stresses that "the temptation is strong to replace a logic of assumption of responsibility by a practice of neutralization ". Thus, in all the establishments visited, "there are systematic strip searches, the maintenance of family ties is fairly degraded, access to work in detention is limited or even non-existent and there is no possibility of sentence adjustment, since a law of 2016, which poses a problem because these prisoners who will leave one day will leave without any reintegration assistance ", alarms Adeline Hazan.
"Devoid of sentence planning and social or professional prospects, taking charge of the proposed 'radicalization' appears to have no effect", asserts his report. "As with the entire penal population, radicalized detainees are monitored by the integration services," explains the DAP, which specifies that any release is anticipated 6 months in advance. Among the options for outings, four individualized treatment centers for radicalized people (PAIRS) in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille, are intended to provide intensive follow-up in an open environment with support on accommodation, integration, and disengagement from radical ideas, she adds.