The Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) denounces in a document, published Thursday in the Official Journal, the treatment “structurally detrimental to human dignity” in several administrative detention centers (CRA) for immigrants in an irregular situation and the inertia of the competent authorities.
The abuses continue despite repeated warnings, but ”left without follow-up”, underlines Dominique Simonnot, in his report.
“The CGLPL’s recurring findings relating to the CRAs thus seem not to bear fruit despite the commitments made following its visits. Retention measures, the operational effectiveness of which has not been demonstrated, are increasing in number and in duration “, she notes.
The report of the independent administrative authority points to detention conditions which “are deteriorating, both because of the aging of poorly maintained, overcrowded premises, designed for short stays, and because of organizational or architectural choices made without account is taken of the obligations of the administration in respect of the rights of detainees”.
”There is an urgent need to profoundly change the current approach to the care of foreigners placed in CRA”, where they are locked up awaiting their expulsion, writes the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty, in its new recommendations submitted to the government last month.
“Without a resolute desire to ensure compliance with the principles which govern the use of administrative detention in French law, without raising the standards concerning the conditions of detention, and without increased professionalization of the civil servants in charge of the implementation of these measures, the severe attacks on the dignity and fundamental rights of those detained will continue”, she underlines.
The report of the independent administrative authority targets four CRAs: those of Lyon 2, Mesnil-Amelot in the Paris region, Metz and Sète in Hérault.
The CGLPL noted conditions “seriously detrimental to the dignity and fundamental rights of those detained” in these centers, according to this report widely reported by the French press. Above all, ”successive visits […] give rise to recurring recommendations that are left unaddressed due to the inertia of the competent authorities,” she notes.
A total of 15,922 people in an irregular situation were detained in mainland France last year, 27,643 overseas. France had 25 administrative detention centers in 2022, for 1,936 places available.
