PARTIAL-RELEASE SCHEME (OPINION)
significant employment basins: this is far from being the case today.
Partial release “blindly” follows the geography of penal institutions,
thus causing profound inequalities. To say the least, existing means
of transport and their costs should be examined. Some open prisons
allow “two wheelers” belonging to prisoners to park within their
premises. This practice should be general.
As these concerns are not taken into account, some open prisons or
wings remain largely unoccupied, with magistrates rightly reluctant
to order employment plans to take place there that carry high risks
of failure.
Secondly, it is the case that the opening times of centres or wings
are too restricted and incompatible with the hours of some jobs that
prisoners have less difficulty finding than others (catering, building, …).
Restricting the hours is an operation that, in reality, results in reducing
the chances of holding down a job. Many open prisons allow exit and
return day and night. This rule should be generalised, including for
the open wings.
Thirdly, the assignment of those on partial release must take into
account the place of their planned employment, so that it has the
greatest chance of success, given the opinion of the Court of Final
Appeal (Cass. Crim. 21st November 2005) that ruled that a person on
partial release could only be assigned to a place specifically planned
for partial release. In a centre in the Paris suburbs, the inspectors met
a person who worked as a lorry driver in the Loiret. He left the centre
at three o’clock in the morning and returned after eight o’clock in
the evening. However, there is an open prison at Montargis where
it would have been judicious to locate him. Even if the assignment
cannot always be made from the outset in relation with the place
of employment, transfers should at least be able to be made upon
request, with the agreement of the judge responsible for the execution
of sentences. The administration has no difficulty in ordering transfers
for perfectly legitimate security reasons. Successful integration into
society is just as legitimate.
If these considerations are important, it is because they partly
determine the future of the measure. Indeed, one of the main causes
of revocation of the partial-release regime by magistrates is lack of
compliance with the times of presence in the institution. The more
distant it is from the place of work or various obligations, the greater
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