The Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, former Minister of the Interior, is visiting Marseille on Thursday January 2 for expected announcements on the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking. After a visit to the courthouse, he went to the premises of the judicial protection of young people, then to the Baumettes prison, where the director and the head of detention had to be placed under protection at the beginning of December after having been threatened by a drug trafficker.
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From our correspondent in Marseille, Leopold Picot
Gerald Darmanin spoke this January 2 of the “ corruption » of certain state agents, like these prison guards whose families are threatened, forced to pass telephones, messages, in cells. “ We are going to increase, in any case, this is what I hope, the penalties against those who threaten and corrupt state agents. »
Gérald Darmanin also wants to recruit 1,600 more justice personnel this year. He would also like to enforce the sentences ordered by the courts: “ When we say that we sentence someone to prison, they must serve prison time. And there are too many prison sentences that are handed down but are not carried out, and therefore the person will never spend a day in prison. »
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In Marseille, deadly score-settling between drug traffickers was halved between 2023 and 2024. To accentuate this trend, Gérald Darmanin once again mentioned reinforced isolation for the most dangerous individuals: “ Nobody understands, behind their television screen, reading their newspaper, that these people can communicate outside, order assassinations, corrupt officials or be able to continue their points of deal. »
In 2024, 40,000 cell phones were confiscated in French prisons. The Minister of Justice would like to obtain an additional 500 million euros to install wave jammers in prisons.
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