In just a few decades, confinement has become commonplace, reaching a
record 82,000 prisoners! Solitary confinement, torture, the slow deaththat destroys from the inside, slowly, a little more each second, is
becoming widespread without arousing outrage. Fifty years ago, the
advent of isolation units sparked multiple movements both inside and
outside prisons. The very act of locking men and women in concrete boxes
for months or years sparked heated debates and numerous positions from
intellectuals, activists, and a significant portion of the population.
Today, solitary confinement is becoming widespread without encountering
any, if any, resistance. Appeal to public opinion of January 3, 1978:
"QHS are the futuristic form of capital punishment. They assassinate the
mind by implementing a system of extreme prison oppression, leading to
death through psychological misery. Far from protecting society, they
are the factory for producing tomorrow's wild beasts and murderers." (T.
Hadjaj, R. Knobelspiess, J. Mesrine, F. Besse, J.-M. Boudin, M.
Desposito, D. Debrielle).
Following the fierce criticism and struggles against incarceration and
QHS in the 1970s, the left in 1981 was forced to include in its platform
the hope of a change in the prison system and judicial policy: many
hoped that the left in power would prioritize more prevention and less
repression. It had promised to abolish QHS. We know the rest:
eliminatory sentences replaced the death penalty, and IQ tests succeeded
QHS.
In 1984, 73 prisoners at Fleury sent out the following appeal:
"Voltaire, wake up, the humanists in power have gone mad... The humanist
left is proving more effective in repression than the right. Michel
Foucault died confidently shaking Badinter's hand! Sartre had touched
the black book of the penitentiary with a little hope... The Human
Rights League is nowhere to be seen, the magistrates' union has fallen
asleep in its hierarchical promotions, long live the left! Intellectuals
eat out of the hands of the socialist masters and remain silent." And
yet the opposition's outcry against laxity and the reactionary work of a
left eager to purge itself of this pseudo-laxity are giving rise to a
repressive reality forever known in France[...]At a time when France is
applying civilized barbarity and unprecedented repression to the
unemployed delinquent, we are bitter, but neither wild animals nor
murderers. Saint Badinter, be kind, resign!"
The "white torture" of solitary confinement, this slow death that
swallows up human beings, destroying day after day those placed there, a
concrete tomb, no longer arouses indignation and anger. Denounced
yesterday by many institutions that are now rather mute, it remains a
terrible means of destroying anyone who suffers it. Many prisoners have
attempted to convey the unspeakable:
"I've often compared the consequences of solitary confinement to the
work produced by waves against the rocky massifs rising up on the
seashore. The waves come and go, crashing against the cliffs, in a
ceaseless movement. And from time to time, without anyone really knowing
when, all or part of the cliff collapses, disappearing into the seabed.
The ocean always ends up getting the better of rock walls, whatever
their nature or their solidity. This is how it is for prisoners." Gabi
Mouesca
"The isolated person is a spectator witnessing the spectacle of his own
death. Alone, in nine square meters. With a constant companion, this
mournful silence, sometimes torn apart by cries of revolt, screams of
rage, his refusal to die. The isolation wards exude hatred, their walls
ooze death. We must end this!"» Thierry Chatbi
The government is now talking about placing drug traffickers in
maximum-security prisons. In an unbearable consensus, the reform was
unanimously approved by the Senate, despite the abstention of
environmentalists. A few points of the law raised some reservations, but
nothing regarding maximum-security units. As usual, after designating
the new "monsters" following dramatic incidents, the government is
resorting to exaggeration: France has become a new Colombia or an Italy
ravaged by the mafia. Darmanin visited Rebibbia prison in Italy to seek
a model for detention conditions.
To lock up the most dangerous drug traffickers, two prisons were already
designated.
Inaugurated in 2013 by Taubira, Condé-sur-Sarthe is the result of more
than twelve years of ministerial studies on the types of structures
designed to hold prisoners designated as difficult and sentenced to very
long terms. It is an ultra-secure prison designed for 249 places, with
perimeter walls 8 to 12 meters high, cameras everywhere, electronically
opened doors, airlocks, and perfectly airtight buildings.
Condé-sur-Sarthe is the logical outcome of a justice system that
develops and applies delusional sentences and must now manage this
policy of sentences up to the death in specific prisons. Everything is
designed to minimize all contact, all human interaction, so that
prisoners meet as little as possible and in very small numbers.
Activities and walks are carried out with a maximum of seven people.
From the moment it opened, this ultramodern version of the former
high-security facilities (QHS) was the subject of serious criticism from
both prison administration management and guards, as well as prisoners.
This did not prevent the construction of a replica in Vendin-le-Viel,
near Lens. Since their opening, in the face of the decline in protest
movements and the drop in escapes, these two prisons had become
"normalized" and primarily held "isolated prisoners at their request."
Gérald Darmanin hasn't invented anything; he's returning to the source,
refining the abject brutality and cruelty. Vendin-le-Vieil is scheduled
to reopen on July 31st. Condé-sur-Sarthe will be operational by
mid-October. To strengthen the security of these facilities, two months
of work were required. The work will cost between four and five million
euros for each facility. There's definitely no shortage of money for
security, while all public services are bled dry.
Isolate prisoners from each other and from the outside world: hygiene
screens will be installed in visiting rooms, preventing any physical
contact with visitors, even though these were abolished in 1983. To
prevent any movement or contact, videoconferencing will be widespread.
High-security facilities will limit phone calls to a maximum of three
times two hours per week. Millimeter waves will be installed to detect
any contraband on prisoners' property and make the use of cell phones
virtually impossible. Family life units established to strengthen ties
with friends and relatives will be impossible; "They will no longer have
a family life," Darmanin boasts angrily. And to combine humiliation with
torture, the government will systematize body searches. Security in the
prison parking lots will be increased, as will the surrounding areas,
all the way up to the main roads, making it even more difficult to
provide outside support (leaflet distribution, meeting with families,
etc.) within the prison walls. Cell windows will be more heavily
secured, making them increasingly opaque and covered with wire mesh.
Prison staff will receive two months of training and will be able to use
anonymity, making them untouchable. Between three and four guards will
be assigned per inmate.
The government, as usual, promises hell for drug traffickers, but these
facilities are already preparing to receive all prisoners it designates
as dangerous. Even prisoners in pretrial detention, i.e., those presumed
innocent, will be able to be placed directly in high-security
facilities. The lengthening of sentences and the inhumane conditions of
detention are intended to force the individual to choose: be destroyed
or collaborate, become a traitor. Several amendments to the bill promise
significant sentence reductions. Since things aren't looking better,
four to five similar facilities are expected to be created by 2027.
According to Darmanin, this would affect 600 to 700 prisoners.
We can hit those incarcerated harder and harder, push them to the limit,
and make them lose their cool, but that will never stop prisoners from
rebelling. Some commit suicide or go mad, and others turn wild. By
constantly treating them like animals, they react instinctively. It's a
normal survival reaction to turn against that which destroys.
The most worrying thing is the lack of memory and resistance. With
freedom dissolved into security, has isolation become an acceptable way
of life, both inside and out?
"When will we stop keeping men and women in places that kill, incite
others to kill, or... to kill? Yes, because isolation incites the desire
to kill." The pain is so great that only hatred generally seems to find
a place in the minds of the isolated, the mistreated. Let us never lose
sight of the fact that we cannot expect a civil and fraternal attitude
from a person who is wounded, humiliated, kept in a subhuman state. The
killers of tomorrow are being shaped today in the Isolation Units. May
those who are thinking about the prison of tomorrow, those who are
deciding the future prison law, not shy away from this reflection and,
above all, from the only acceptable decision: the abolition of isolation
units!» Gabi Mouesca
Nadia M
DDPF
FOR THE DEFENSE OF PRISONERS
The last judge I saw had more vice than the drug dealer on my street.
Murderer
Following the government's announcements to tighten prison conditions, a
wave of actions has shaken the unbearable indifference with which this
bill is being debated and voted on. For several nights, prisons, cars,
and prison officers' homes were targeted. Nearly 90 incidents were
recorded in less than 15 days, claimed by the "Defense of French
Prisoners' Rights" (DDPF), an acronym spray-painted on most of the
targeted locations. On encrypted apps such as Telegram and TikTok, they
claimed responsibility for their actions in defense of human rights and
for respect for the dignity of prisoners' conditions.
In an attempt to identify the DDPF group, 300 investigators were
deployed over a two-week investigation. Twenty-one suspects were
arrested. Among them were minors and very young, inexperienced men who
will be prosecuted for terrorism-related offenses. The definition of
terrorism has been considerably broadened. The penal code does not
define terrorist action according to an ideology, but rather according
to a modus operandi and an objective-"seriously disturbing public order
through terror or intimidation," meaning anything that disturbs the state.
Drug trafficking allows entire families to survive, to stock their
fridges, to pay their rent... Few people lead luxurious lives by
dealing. It is primarily they who are targeted by repression and who
languish indefinitely in prison. Dealers have nothing to envy, in terms
of morality and practical exploitation, from our governments and the
bourgeoisie who unfortunately too often serve as examples to them.
As during the revolts following Nahel's death, social media surely
played a role in the simultaneity of the attacks. But we make no
mistake, it was the death of a young man, or in DDPF's case, the
violence in prison, that caused this.
With detention conditions already becoming extremely harsh, it is
increasingly difficult for prisoners to revolt, so it is not surprising
that the protest comes from outside.
Prison staff have always been the target of reprisals to dissuade them
from exercising brutal zeal over prisoners; this is nothing new; it's as
old as the existence of prisons!
It is easy to be fooled by the rhetoric of the government and its
proxies; the measures put in place are not reserved for drug
traffickers, but will be extended to "crime and organized delinquency."
We know that any significant movement of revolt and opposition is
confronted with prison and that its existence therefore concerns us all.
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4465
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