The point on an unexpected escape – Liberation

The guide of the arrival inmate – document published by the Ministry of Justice – stipulates, from the first lines: during an incarceration « You receive a nut number, so that you are not confused with another person who would have the same name as you ». On April 30, there was however mistake between two detainees from the Penitentiary Center of Bordeaux-Gradignan (Gironde).

A 25 -year -old man, sentenced in November to ten years in prison for fatal blows, was « Unducarily released (…) in place of an individual whose name was very close »said the public prosecutor of Bordeaux, Renaud Gaudeul, in a press release. A research mandate and a European arrest warrant were issued to find him, but the young fugitive was still running Tuesday April 6 – contacted this Wednesday, the Bordeaux package has not yet been followed up. A week after his escape, Liberty takes stock of this unusual nut lif.

When they arrived in prison, the identity and the justifying document the imprisonment of each detainee are recorded in the registry, indicates The Ministry Guide. In the same way, « We take your footprints and take a photo of you for biometrics ». These elements make it possible to verify the identity of the person owned at any time: when accessing the visiting rooms or travel inside the detention buildings, when leaving the establishment in the event of extraction or nut lifting. This internal identity verification system at the prison « Offers increased security in establishments »ensures the document. It is clear that he did not work at the end of April in Bordeaux-Gradignan.

According to South Westthe liberated man has not much in common with his fellow prisoner: « They have neither the same morphology nor the same first name »nor the same nationality. Only a letter differs in their family names, which can decide in the same way. A judicial investigation, entrusted to the organized and specialized crime division (DCOS), and another, administrative, were opened to determine the circumstances of this accidental liberation and find the detainee running away.

With ReleaseRonan Roudaut, UFAP-UNSA union representative at the Penitentiary Center of Bordeaux-Gradignan, evokes, without wanting to draw from « Hare conclusion »a « Regrettable and incomprehensible human error » :: « If it had been done correctly, there would not have been this hiccup. » The administrative survey should make it possible to determine at what level of the release procedure The error has intervened: « There is the person who plays the release, the person who signs the document … » details the union representative. The prison administration, for its part, indicates that it does not comment before the conclusions of the administrative inquiry.

According to Ronan Roudaut, « The head of the registry had sounded the alarm a year ago on the lack of workforce ». He is the means of the means generally under sized for this prison; also for agents in charge of detention. With 1,120 to 1,130 prisoners for 633 places in Gradignan, « We are all the time taken by time, we lower the guard and we pay it »he sums up.

According to him, members of the penitentiary in charge of detention are regularly led to carry out administrative tasks, as in the registry. « This kind of error can happen again tomorrow, we no longer have time to do these control procedures »says the trade unionist.

Some agents would also not be trained enough and lack experience: “They do not have the necessary perspective on the importance of the registry. Behind, at the criminal level, there can be heavy consequences. But that does not mean that there is conscious neglect. ” Last pitfall at the proper functioning of the Bordeaux-Gradignan penitentiary center, according to Ronan Roudaut: the lack of attractiveness of the profession. « We can’t recruit, it’s as if we put a pastry chef in auto mechanics. »

As of April 1 in France, there were 82,921 detainees for 62,358 operational prison places, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice. The global prison density was thus 133 %.