“Prison overcrowding, lack of staff”: angry, guards will block Béziers prison

Les surveillants de la prison de Béziers attendent des mesures fortes en matière de surpopulation carcérale et de manque de personnel. PS Illustration – Midi Libre

Through this protest movement which takes place this Tuesday, April 2, the Béziers representatives of the regional union Ufap Toulouse denounce "a lack of staff and penal overpopulation" which affects all Occitanie remand centers. Including those of Gasquinoy, in Béziers.

"This Tuesday, April 2, as in all prisons in Occitanie, no one will enter or leave Gasquinoy, if not the medical staff", announces David Parmentier, prison guard at Béziers prison, the local representative of the Ufap Toulouse regional union. In fact, the union is organizing a general blockade of the 16 establishments in Occitanie, including that of Béziers. He denounces "staffing shortages and penal overcrowding in remand centers’.< /p>

"116 detainees are sleeping on the ground to date in Béziers"

Regarding the "overflow" of inmates, the prison guard explains: "The overcrowding only concerns the two Biterroise remand centers. We have an occupancy rate of 174% in Béziers. And it's the same everywhere, knowing that the maximum is reached in Nîmes with a rate of 220%!" < /p>

Consequences: "To date, 116 prisoners are sleeping on a mattress placed on the floor." The guard does not lose his temper. The tone goes up a notch when discussing daily life, for both inmates and staff.

"You can well imagine the problems of cohabitation between the penal population! Difficult to bring together rapists, Islamists, traffickers, killers, thieves, young people, old people, smokers and non-smokers, drug addicts and prisoners with psychiatric problems… Knowing that the latter represent 33& ;nbsp;% of prisoners. But that's another problem."

As for personnel, David Parmentier indicates that "Supervisors have to manage an ever-increasing number of verbal and physical violence and conflicts. And therefore always use more force. Which means greater pressure… This has to stop!"

"There are 27 supervisors missing in Béziers"

Concerning the lack of staff, the union representative underlines that there are 27 supervisors missing throughout the Béziers penitentiary center (prison centers and detention center). "We have a theoretical organization chart provided to us by the ministry which indicates 210 supervisors in Béziers. Now, there are 183 of us!"

The consequences are serious, according to him. He will not be able to go into detail due to security issues. But it will say: "Due to lack of staff, we have a closed service."

This insufficiency s’adding to the problem of prison overcrowding, the guards say they are "on their last legs, exhausted. We are experiencing a real paradox. We have never had prisons so full with so few staff. Besides, at Gasquinoy, we are breaking the ceiling for overtime!"

L'UFap Toulouse expects from the public authorities "strong measures on both issues before things flare up!& quot;