As the controversy swells, the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti ordered an investigation this Saturday to try to shed light on the videos showing inmates of the prison of Fresnes (Val-de-Marne) indulging in a race karting in the courtyard of the penitentiary center at the end of July.
“The fight against recidivism goes through reintegration but certainly not through karting! “, protested the Keeper of the Seals in a tweet.
The video in question was broadcast on Friday but the shooting would have taken place on July 27, the date on which an event called “Kohlanness in the prison of Fresnes” was held in the prison and to which Le Parisien had devoted a report.
For the past few years, these wacky sports competitions inspired by the television show Koh-Lanta have won the hearts of the cities of France. In early July, a meeting between police and residents of the neighborhoods of Fresnes had even taken place.
VIDEO. In Fresnes, a Koh-Lanta police vs city
This time, it was therefore the inmates of the prison of Fresnes who measured themselves against the guards and young people from the neighborhood during sporting events in the courtyard of the prison reserved for sport. The full show was posted on YouTube on Friday.
The event obviously did not make the far right laugh. “Club Med at Fresnes prison (…) the victims will appreciate”, tweeted this Saturday the honorary president of Reconquest! and close to Éric Zemmour, Gilbert Collard.
Same story on the side of the RN defector Damien Rieu: “Can you imagine the victims and families of the victims who see their executioners go kart in the prison of Fresnes? he was annoyed on the social network.
“Message to those who define themselves as “Minister of Prisoners”: prisons in France, everything needs to be reviewed! “, for his part estimated the spokesman of the National Rally, Sébastien Chenu. “During this time, 1 child in 3 does not go on vacation,” engaged the deputy of the flame party Hélène Laporte.
Promote reintegration
The event would have been organized on the initiative of a local education manager of the school center of the remand prison, with the agreement of the prison director Jimmy Delliste with the aim of promoting the reintegration of prisoners and raising awareness. the young audience to the reality of prison.
“All the people who are there are there for a good reason and reintegration requires work in prison. But we also have a duty: not to leave them aside and above all not to forget that they are humans like you and me”, declares Djibril Dramé, the creator of Kohlanness, baptized Denis Brogniart des Groux, in the preamble to the episode.
“Prison is not a game, we are locked up 22 hours a day, we don’t have more walks or showers when it’s hot… It’s not Club Med (…) Kohlanness reminded us for a few hours what it was like to be outside, ”continues an inmate interviewed at the end of the episode.
This Saturday, the organizers of Kohlanness were trying to extinguish the controversy. “We don’t go into a prison like that, we have signed an agreement with the prison administration”, reacted on BFM Enzo Angelo Santo, the producer of the show.
“We were unable to access the criminal records of the detainees. We did not know what they had achieved, but we trust the prison administration”, added the producer who calls not to “summarize their action at the karting episode”.
Asked by AFP, the ministry clarified that Eric Dupond-Moretti had ordered an “administrative investigation to know exactly the ins and outs of what happened”. “The Minister has always been in favor of detainees being offered sports and cultural activities, but in the project as it was presented, the activities as revealed in this video did not appear. , in particular that of karting”, we added.