• A 20-year-old prisoner was killed in a cell fire on Wednesday evening at the Gradignan remand center, his fellow prisoner was seriously injured.

    An investigation is underway.

  • It is the most overcrowded prison in France, alerts the general controller of places of deprivation of liberty, who made the link with this recent tragedy.

  • The UFAP-UNSA union urgently calls for the decluttering of the cells to allow the sheltering of the detainees in the event of a problem.

A 20-year-old young man was killed in a cell fire on Wednesday evening at the Gradignan remand center.

One of his fellow prisoners was seriously injured and transferred to the Bordeaux University Hospital.

"It was tense and, events like this add tension, not to mention the suicides that we had before and the attacks that accumulate", comments Ronan Rouaut, secretary of the UFAP-UNSA, union majority in Gradignan.

According to Dominique Simonnot, controller general of places of deprivation of liberty, this prison center is the most overloaded in France with a density greater than 225%.

A prison "in total abandonment"

“We are close to 150 mattresses (on the floor, to remedy the lack of beds), confirms Ronan Rouaut.

We denounce the fact of not having the means to incarcerate correctly ”.

The union calls in particular for the decluttering of the cells and their cleaning in order “to be able to enter the cells and shelter the detainees.

".

Wednesday evening, the guards who were on duty intervened in seven minutes with the extinguishers, without being able to save the victim.

The controller estimated during the presentation of her annual report to the press on Thursday that this tragedy was directly linked to the overcrowding of the establishment and referred to a prison "in total abandonment", with up to four inmates per cell, "unable to stand together".

It is not the project of renovation and extension of the remand center, sized for 600 prisoners, which will be able to calm the situation.

"The establishment will already be completely full from the opening", regrets Ronan Rouaut, who describes a prison whose elevators are almost always out of order, full of asbestos, "disgusting", with "cells filled with cockroaches".

Recently, problems with excessive heat and water supply have further aggravated the situation.

“Cell fires are one of the only means available to inmates to protest,” commented the controller.

Asked by

20 Minutes,

the management of the Gradignan remand center did not wish to speak while an investigation is underway.

An inmate tries to escape during a medical visit to the Bordeaux University Hospital

Company

Prisons: More than two detainees for a place in the Gradignan remand center, a symbol of prison overcrowding

  • Bordeaux

  • Aquitaine

  • Jail

  • Inmates

  • Fire