Residents protest against town centre prison

Over 1,200 people, including the Mayor and other officials, mounted a street protest this weekend in Limeil-Brévannes, in opposition to plans for a State-owned patch of land in the town centre.

The town is home to 25,000 people and located just over 20km south of Paris.

Plans suggest that an “adapted security” prison could be built to accommodate up to 150 prisoners serving sentences of two years or less.

Often dubbed “open prisons”, these establishments usually house inmates deemed to be of lowest risk, with the least amount of restrictions imposed within the prison itself.

The Limeil-Brévannes prison would be one of six such establishments expected to be built in Ile-de-France by 2022, out of the 18 “penitentiary re-insertion centres” planned across the country in the next four years, according to a new government report.

Speaking in front of the town’s Hotel de Ville, Mayor Françoise Lecoufle, who led the opposition march, said: “This penitentiary project seriously threatens two things: the cable car project that we have been planning for 10 years, and also the creation of an economic centre that would bring over 3,000 jobs to our town.”

She added that there had been a “lack of information”, and demanded “the official stopping of this unacceptable project”.

In support, senator Catherine Procaccia said: “We are all convinced of the need for better quality, dignified and well-equipped prisons, but we cannot build them just anywhere.”

Speaking to the Agence France-Presse, the State defended the plans, saying that “nothing has been stopped”, but that the project is still in its early planning stages.

A spokesperson for the ministry of Justice said: “Everything is at the preliminary study stage. At this point, nothing has been decided.”

The statement added that the Mayor of Limeil-Brévannes had been “kept informed of the ongoing project”.