The Ufap union deplores 300% overcrowding in the women's section of Nîmes prison

60 détenues sont aujourd'hui dans le quartier des femmes à la maison d'arrêt de Nîmes qui dispose de 20 places Midi Libre – WILLIAM TRUFFY

There are no more places for women at the Nîmes remand center. The Ufap union deplores, this March 3, a new and sad record: 60 inmates for 20 places. Or 300% overpopulation in the women's quarter. 

L'Ufap, the majority prison staff union at the Nîmes remand center denounced, this Sunday, March 3, in a leaflet, a new and sad record: a rate 300% overpopulation in the women's quarter. 

The women's section at the Nîmes remand center can accommodate 20 inmates. " Today we have 60 female inmates for these 20 women. theoretical places. No more mattresses on the ground can fit into the cells, notes the Ufap which alerted its management. This has approached the interregional management which, according to Ufap, has not proposed, to date, any solutions. "Nîmes is fed up with being number 1 in terms of female prison overpopulation. There, we have reached new heights."

"We put inmates, staff in danger"

" We have reached a point of no return. We can no longer manage problems of cohabitation in cells or prevent incidents. We have no more solutions, confirms David Dehaye, the secretary of Ufap-Unsa Justice, in Nîmes, contacted this Monday by Midi Libre. The maximum, c  #39;is two in the cells of the women's section. You know, it's always complicated to live together in prison. At 10 p.m., when we arrive with another inmate, we are refused. We have already alerted management. We have no answer. The staff is full. And daily management becomes very difficult. I wish no one to experience the tensions caused by this overpopulation. And we have the impression that it’s up to us, the staff, to find solutions. This passivity is distressing. We put the inmates and the staff in danger. There is no in-depth work on this sensitive subject, deplores David Dehaye. And that's unfortunate."

Ufap offers several options: the transfer of inmates who have already requested their assignment to other prisons; requests for sentence adjustment which could be subject to adversarial debate "anticipated", the transfer of held on structures in the Toulouse region.

This Monday evening, Ufap announced that it had obtained the transfer of four inmates. Two other inmates will be transferred this Tuesday. 53 inmates are imprisoned in Nîmes.