He is one of the faces of narcobanditism in France: this January 24, Félix Bingui, alleged chief of the Yoda clan, was indicted in Marseille after his extradition from Morocco, where he had been arrested in March 2024. For the Moment placed in pre -trial detention in a secret establishment held secret, the thirty -something may well be part of the “one hundred largest drug traffickers in France” to be sent soon to a single prison in the territory, specializing in the reception of these high -risk profiles and Announced by the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin on January 13.
During a trip to Agen, ten days later, the Keeper of the Seals specified that the commissioning of this establishment would take place “from July 31”, with first transfers scheduled for March. The location will benefit from an investment of 4 million euros, to allow “total isolation” of prisoners, in “inviolable” cells. Four already existing detention centers were mentioned: Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais), Condé-sur-Sarthe (Orne), Saint-Maur (Indre), or Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône). But to avoid the “pressure cooker” effect so much feared by the prison personnel and ensure the safety of agents, many challenges still await Gérald Darmanin. “This solution is clearly double-edged. The minister will have to give us the means of his ambitions,” warns David Lacroix, local FO secretary of Vendin-le-Vieil prison.
“Everything has to be done again”
Starting with the logistics challenge that represents the creation of a truly “inviolable” establishment for future prisoners. At the Central Maison de Vendin -le -Vieil, which already welcomes the most dangerous prisoners in France – like Salah Abdeslam or Rédoine Faïd – and benefits as such a system of phones and drones, David Lacroix thus evokes a “waterproof 90 %” structure. “The real point of vulnerability is outside, that is to say the visiting rooms. It would be necessary to invest in detection gantry with millimeter waves [POM]Put the package on listening, penitentiary intelligence, excavation missions, “develops the supervisor, while the law of 2009 no longer allows agents to carry out systematic full excavations of detainees after the parlor. The provision. of the prison would also be to review: according to his colleague from UFAP-Unsa, who prefers to keep anonymity, the prisoners are not currently isolated from each other outside the establishment’s isolation. ” cross in the workshops, in showers, during walks. Everything has to be redone if we want to accommodate drug traffickers completely isolated from each other within two months, “he warns.
Same concerns in Condé-sur-Sarthe, where the prison is equipped with a pom and scrambling systems, but in which there is “only a ride by passage which does not allow each detained “, according to local representative FO. The supervisor also evokes “securing the penitentiary domain to be reviewed”, while the staff parking lot is for example delimited by “a simple barrier”. While in Arles, his counterpart Thomas Forner simply does not understand “not how Gérald Darmanin was able to quote the prison” as potential candidate for this specialized structure. “We have cases of drone deliveries, parcel throws, ineffective telephone jammers, walking lessons that communicate with each other,” he said, disappointed.
Corruption and “pressure strokes”
In all the prisons mentioned by Gérald Darmanin, the staff are mainly concerned about the securing of agents, in a context of chronic sub-employment: according to the union sources interviewed by L’Express, fifteen supervisors would already lack Arles, a Thirty in Saint-Maur, around twenty in Condé-sur-Sarthe and Vendin-le-Vieil. “Inevitably, the specific detention regime of these prisoners, and in particular total isolation, will cause massive tensions. We will have to be able to manage this, and have the appropriate staff,” said David Lacroix. The problem is the same for centers that will be assigned the “high-risk” prisoners transferred between their walls to leave their places to narcotic traces. “We will have to empty a prison in others. And welcome ten or twenty profiles of Condé or Vendin without having the means, that’s anything but trivial,” says Thomas Forner.
To avoid any risk of corruption or “pressure strokes” on the part of networks with unlimited financial means, staff representatives are demanding total anonymization of agents, via the assurance of being administratively appointed by their matricles or by The port of Cagoules – a practice that the Minister of Justice does not exclude, according to information from L’Express. “I already have colleagues who hesitate to file a complaint when they are insulted or spitting on it for fear of reprisals. What will happen when they have in front of them a hundred profiles like Félix Bingui?”,, Questions the FO representative of Condé-sur-Sarthe.
The Playful Killer (two prison agents murdered during a transfer) and the recent price on the social networks of the director of the Marseille prison of Beaumettes remain in mind of the supervisors. “If we end up with 100 people capable of putting 100,000 euros each on our head, to forward the supervisors or their families, who will want to take this risk? Will there be transfer possibilities, increases in remuneration ? “, questions Thomas Forner. To reassure the supervisors, Gérald Darmanin notably mentioned the creation of four new sections of regional intervention and security teams (ERIS), equivalent to the GIGN in the penitentiary world, continuously present in the “pilot” establishment. But then again, professionals are skeptical on the calendar. “Where will they find them? The already existing units have locally missions, and the training of new agents will take several months,” recalls Frédéric Chauvet, local UFAP-UNSA secretary in Saint-Maur.
While the Minister of Justice plans to imprison both convicted persons and defendants – awaiting final judgment or who have appealed their conviction – regular transfers between the chosen center and the supervisory judges represent by Elsewhere “a big problem in terms of safety and enrollment”, underlines Alexandre Bouquet, national secretary of the union of penitentiary directors (SNDP). In the pure and simple absence of communication from Gérald Darmanin concerning the management of long -term prisoners within this establishment, man also wonders about the work of support and reintegration of which they will be able to benefit: “These people are doomed to go out at one point, after having lived a very restrictive system for a long time. What can we expect from them?”. So many questions to which Gérald Darmanin should answer in “the coming weeks”, according to the Chancellery. The week of February 3, the Keeper of the Seals will go to Italy to visit a similar prison, allowing in particular to isolate the members of the Mafia.
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