Toulouse. Faced with the insalubrity of the prison of Seysses, justice orders a series of urgent measures
By Maxence Dourlen
Published on
Already singled out for its unworthy conditions of detention in October 2021, the prison center of Toulouse-Seysses will have to take emergency measures as quickly as possible. The Administrative Court made its decision public on August 3, 2022. A letter had notably been sent to the Minister of Justice to alert on the situation ten months ago.
In this letter, the CGLPL described a “dramatically high” prison overcrowding, causing serious dysfunctions: lack of hygiene, proliferation of pests (rats, cockroaches, bedbugs), total lack of privacy, excessive time spent in the cell…
Three steps to take urgently
The October 2021 decision – and its 11 emergency measures – would not have been respected in its entirety according to Pierre Dunac, president of the Toulouse bar. While certain measures are in the process of being carried out (development of the courtyards of the remand prisons, the nursery, cleaning, isolation of the toilets in the cells, etc.), the administrative court, through the judge in chambers, confirms three measures which have still not been respected.
“Ruling in summary proceedings, on the basis of article L. 521-4 of the code of administrative justice,
which allows the judge, seized by an interested person, in view of new elements, to
to modify the original measures or to put an end to them, the administrative judge
reaffirms the obligation to toilet refurbishment the promenade courtyard of remand prison No. 1, the improvement of the device for fight against cockroaches and one best price in charge of medical and specialized emergencies. »
What about overpopulation?
The Seysses remand center currently has 1045 detainees for 644 places.
According to the administrative court, “the measures taken by the State to reduce prison overcrowding through an active policy of transferring detainees and better maintaining the buildings through a maintenance plan planned for the Sodexo company should be continued but did not require new injunctions”.
The administrative court considers that the measures taken to combat violence and insecurity (listing and exhaustive follow-up of reports, designation of a referent for the officers responsible for processing requests and improving the recording of requests and internal control ) are sufficient according to the elements mentioned.
15 days to restore the toilets
By this decision, the administrative court gives the prison administration 15 days to restore the sanitary facilities of remand center for men no. 1.
“With regard to pests, and in particular cockroaches, after noting that rat control had been improved, that the administration had already distributed 6,400 cockroach rooms and that monthly and quarterly disinsectization operations had been put in place, he ordered the fortnightly distribution of cockroach traps, within eight days, in view of the findings. »
Finally, the court renewed the injunction made to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health to define a protocol for the coordination of emergency and specialized medical care within two months. This concerns in particular “the need to define the respective responsibilities of the prison administration and the Toulouse University Hospital
in the care of detainees and the obligation to register any request from detainees with a view to benefiting from emergency or specialized care by issuing an acknowledgment of receipt”.
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