Chapter 6 "To the Chief inspector..." Letters received Preparation for discharge "Madam Chief Inspector of places of deprivation of liberty, Following my telephone call to your office on 22 August 2017, I am taking the liberty of writing to you today for information. Although I am not yet halfway through my sentence, I should like to know if you would be able to send me the documentation on assistance in the event of "sortie sèche" [i.e. release without follow-up to help with reintegration], or as it is known, release upon expiry of sentence. I should like to have documentation on this subject, as it is true that assistance is provided in the event of release on parole, including community accommodation and help with finding a job, but I do not know what is in store for me when I am released. My Rehabilitation and Probation Counsellor told me that assistance was also provided following release on expiry of sentence, but never how much, and I had the impression that I could not really count on parole, which was more or less confirmed according to what I have heard about other inmates to which it was not granted. Even though the time has not yet come, I should like to start thinking about this now, I do not want to leave prison with NFA status. I have absolutely nobody I can count on in the outside world and I shall be almost 60 years old when I am released, which is why I am worrying now about my future situation, all the more so because I am not in the best of health. This is why I am humbly taking the liberty of writing to you. My thanks in advance, Yours faithfully." Prison conditions "Dear Madam, I am writing to you to tell you that I have left the remand prison in X and arrived at the prison complex in Y on 20 July 2017 for evaluation by the National Assessment Centre. I must report the fact that when I arrived at Fresnes on Thursday 20 July, I was put in a second-division cell at about 10 o’clock in the evening. I was put in a cell with no chairs to sit on, no dustpan or brush, no mop and no knives or forks. Not even a cup or glass. They gave me something to eat and I had to eat with my fingers like an animal. I regard myself as a human being. I asked for something to eat with and sit down on. They did not want to give me a chair to sit on so I had to eating sitting on the floor. They did not give me breakfast in the morning for 2 days. No coffee and no bread to eat. I stayed like that until Sunday 23 July and nobody took me for assessment. This makes me afraid to go back to the second division. The assessment finishes on 3 September and they are going to put me back in the second division until I am transferred to the detention centre for my family reunification. At the moment I have no resources. I asked the Directress if I could have the 20 euros a month poverty allowance but it was refused just as it was in the Laval remand prison. I cannot even telephone my son, who lives far away from me in V. We both suffer from being so far 143