News on the transfer of one of those sentenced for taking part in the fire on a police car in Quai de Valmy in May 2016.
Having been sentenced to more than 2 years, he was transferred in shackles from the prison of Fleury-Mérogis to the detention centre Meaux, a prison whose running was ‘delegated’ to GEPSA, the branch in Engie. While many prisoners wait for months or years before entering a detention centre hoping in less harsh prison conditions, for him it was fast.
Given the Prison Authority’s will to intimidate prisoners and people in solidarity, we don’t think this is a favour:
After the sentence a prisoner can ask for a hearing before the judge who pronounced the sentence, which must happen within four months, regarding a possible release on bail. In his case, his hearing was set six months after his request. This comes as no surprise because they run no risk in going beyond time limits: the only possibility left is to address the court of appeal directly. We know that this court (the Chamber of the execution of sentences or ‘hat’) is considered harder because it deliberates in the absence of the persons concerned. Moreover there’s no hearing and therefore no possibility to come to an agreement.
Also a request for a change in the sentence depends on the department where the prison is, which means that he will probably have to reformulate his request to the JAP in Meaux and wait for a new hearing.
Finally, for over three weeks, namely until 3rd March, no visit was allowed. The number of visits was reduced from 3 to 2 per week and they have to be made in two consecutive days. Letters take a long time to be delivered when they don’t disappear altogether, probably they pass through the ex-investigating judge’s hands. The prison regime remains ‘closed doors’, conditioned to a successive ‘rehabilitation’ more oppressive and individualized than in Fleury.
While each story is different, these practices are extremely common and it is the repression system in its totality that tries to break all individuals, with the power of bureaucracy and the law, but also with thousands of small and big abuses that characterize the lives of those who are captured in its net.
Anyone in their own way, let’s the shit know that prisoners are not alone in the face of the State and its jailers!
[Translated from Italian by Act for freedom now!]
