PARTIAL-RELEASE SCHEME (OPINION)
are not associated with any detailed instructions and therefore no
precautions. Therefore, no doctor comes to check the state of health
of the person (article R. 57-7-31 of the Code): a conscientious head
of an institution who wanted to call the emergency medical services
for this purpose was unsuccessful in calling them out. Consequently,
partial release also involves a reduction in the guarantees provided
under general law to prisoners.
This measure should be precisely regulated, by distinguishing
punishment from waiting (one cannot be put in a disciplinary cell while
waiting for custody or return to a prison), by specifying a maximum
period of holding, the rights that the person concerned still has and,
above all, by defining a subsequent procedure, adapted to these
institutions, allowing the person concerned to defend themselves, all
the more so as such a measure may have a serious effect on his/her
external activity. Encouragement should also be given to the signature
of protocols between the judicial authorities and the managements of
the penal institutions concerned, for the awareness and handling of
incidents that occur, for a better assessment of their gravity and more
appropriate follow-up.
9/ Moreover, one must wonder whether discipline in places of partial
release should not be relaxed, at least in the matter of objects or
substances that are prohibited. Here is the list of the latter shown in
the internal regulations on an open prison: “drugs, alcohol, canned
soft drinks, portable telephones, cash, cassette recorders, DVD players,
personal stereos [and necessary equipment], camera, hi-fi players,
computers, hot plates, weight-training equipment, motorcycle helmet,
food, coffee maker”. Although some of these restrictions are in place
for obvious reasons, others are not. For some of these goods (money,
computer) the aim is probably to avoid theft, which is widespread
in these places. But why not leave it to the persons concerned to
determine what they want to do with their own goods? Furthermore,
although the prohibition on portable telephones is justified in an
open wing included in a prison where these appliances are forbidden
(on this point, the Contrôleur général requested a change in his/her
opinion of 10th January 2011 – Journal Officiel of 23rd January), to
prevent the risk of transmission from one section to another, it has
no basis in independent open prisons. Lastly, although the question
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