Rights which are often deferred when persons placed in police custody are
under the influence of alcohol
The inspectors have noted differences in practice with regard to the deferment of rights
due to the person’s behaviour: certain OPJs rely on outward and manifest signs of inebriation,
which they describe in their police reports, others measure the quantity of alcohol on arrival at
the police station, but not always at the time when the person concerned is assumed to have
regained their senses.
It is rare to find formal instructions – memoranda issued internally or by the State
Prosecutor’s Office – specifically fixing a level of alcohol above which notification of rights
should be postponed and, correlatively, the level within which it should take place.
Once the person concerned has been notified, they are placed in a cell without being
allowed to keep the media used for this notification. Moreover, if they do not request to exercise
their rights at the time of notification, they can only rely upon their memory, assuming that they
have actually understood what was explained to them and that they are aware that they can
exercise these rights at any time.
1.2.1.2 The deadlines and diversity of procedures for bringing persons to court do not enable detailed provision
of information
Although article 803-3 of the code of criminal procedure lists the rights of persons brought
before courts, it does not oblige the officers in charge of their supervision to notify them thereof.
Nevertheless, in courts that possess temporary cells, such as the Regional Court of
Créteil for example, notification takes place: persons brought before the court are informed of
their rights orally by one of the police officers in charge of surveillance of the cells, as well as in
writing by means of a notification form that they are asked to sign. At the Paris Regional Court 243,
this form exists in twelve languages.
242
In other scenarios where persons are brought before a court, in the absence of legal
provisions as explained above, their acknowledged rights vary according to the court, although
most courts proceed by analogy with the system provided for under article 803-3 of the code of
criminal procedure, in particular with regard to the right to eat and be examined by a doctor in
order to be in a state to take care of their defence.
In certain law courts, not only have rules and regulations been worked out, but they are
also brought to the attention of persons deprived of liberty. Thus, the inspectors ascertained that
the “rules and regulations of the temporary detention cells of the Regional Court” were displayed
in a locked, glass-fronted noticeboard at the entrance of the central passageway leading to the
cells and visible from some of them.
1.2.1.3 Provision of information to foreigners placed in detention centres for illegal immigrants is limited to the
handing over of documents
Notification procedures and media
When people are placed in detention centres for illegal immigrants (CRA) after being held
in police custody244, orders imposing the obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) and
242
nd
rd
Inspection of 22 and 23 March 2011. Report available at www.cglpl.fr.
Inspection from 21st to 23rd April and 5th May 2010. Report available at www.cglpl.fr.
244
th
This has been unlawful since the decision of the first civil division of the Court of cassation of 5 July 2012, unless
justified by breaches of the law concerning foreigners.
243
155
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