The dilapidated Basse-Terre prison is no longer fit to accommodate 211 inmates. This is why they were moved this Sunday to a new prison building, in the same district, in the heart of Guadeloupe’s capital.
The operation mobilized many police officers, gendarmes, firefighters, members of the prosecutor’s office and prison administration agents from Guadeloupe, but also from Martinique, state services mentioned in the press release. The area was closed.
The prisoners were moved to “a new modern structure, equipped with the latest security technology,” which “will allow better accommodation conditions” for the prisoners “and better working conditions” for the guards, according to the prefecture of Guadeloupe.
The “famous” prison.
The Basse-Terre pre-trial detention center is located in a former convent hospital built in the 17th century, converted into a prison at the end of the 18th century. It is “notorious for its conditions of detention, overcrowding leading to increased violence.” Sometimes it was even referred to as a “penal colony”, recalled Jean-Jacques Urvoas, then Minister of Justice, in July 2016 when announcing the construction of the new structure.
Last July, prison guards carried out a “death prison” operation because of concerns about future working conditions in the new structure. “We have heard about staff shortages: the team has been reinforced by six people, out of about ten people we need,” said Frantz Sapor, local secretary of the Ufap-Unsa Justice union, this Sunday.
In the old place, inmates slept “up to 16 people per dormitory. In the new place, which has 100 places, there are two places per cell, because the workforce exceeds 200 people,” union officials said.
Prison overcrowding is frequently criticized in Guadeloupe by guards unions and the International Prison Observatory (OIP). This is also the case at the Baie-Mahault prison center, where the cell occupancy rate is 149%, on par with mainland France.
Basse-Terre Prison will be demolished to be rebuilt and could accommodate 300 places by 2028, including a new structure. The Baie-Mahault prison center is also being expanded.
