France Urged to Free Prisoners to Thwart Virus in Crowded Jails
France Urged to Free Prisoners to Thwart Virus in Crowded Jails
(Bloomberg) --
France should “drastically” cut prisoner numbers in its overcrowded jails to prevent the covid-19 virus from taking hold and to avoid riots, a group representing detainees, magistrates and lawyers warned.
About 144 penitentiaries or prison quarters in France are at overcapacity with as many as four prisoners living in tiny cells or as many as eight in dormitories, the organizations said Wednesday in a shared statement. Detainees are also in close contact when they take a stroll and use shared showers.
“In spite of all that, prisoners aren’t allowed to wear face masks, the majority of them don’t have gloves, they’re banned from having hydro-alcoholic gel given that alcohol is prohibited,” the groups said. “It is impossible, in such circumstances, to apply safety instructions” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, they added.
The associations and unions highlight that riots broke out in Italy when visiting time was banned –- as was decided in France on Tuesday –- leaving 12 prisoners dead and 40 wardens injured.
“It is now urgent, to limit the risks of the sanitary crisis in prison, to drastically reduce the number of people detained,” according to the statement, issued by an attorney association defending prisoners’ rights, the international prison observatory as well as unions for lawyers and magistrates.
New Prisoners
That means limiting the number of new prisoners by favoring alternatives to incarceration, delaying the start of prison sentences, the associations and unions said. That also means freeing all prisoners that can be freed with releases under legal supervision, more early releases and suspending sentences for people with medical conditions.
A 74-year-old prisoner died March 16 after testing positive to the coronavirus, Agence France-Press reported. He’s the first victim in prison and had been jailed on March 8 in Fresnes, South of Paris, according to AFP. The French Justice Ministry said he had diabetes and added that he wasn’t in contact with other prisoners, AFP reported. Two nurses and the head of human resources in that prison were also tested covid-19 positive.
Separately, the observatory on the detention of foreigners called for the freeing of all asylum seekers kept in custody while coronavirus lockdowns override European Union rules requiring them to be sent back to where they made their initial bid.
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