One hundred thousand euros. This is the sum that the administrative court of Caen condemned the State to pay, Tuesday, November 15, as compensation, to the family of a 26-year-old prisoner who committed suicide in Caen prison in 2020. The court found that the prison administration had committed a ” mistake “ in the care of the young woman. Pauline Depirou, who suffered from serious mental disorders, was found hanged in her cell in the Caen remand center on the night of February 4 to 5, 2020.
Despite three prior suicide attempts, including one by hanging “just a few months before the lifting of the enhanced surveillance” in December 2019, the young woman had been placed alone in a cell, noted the court in a decision made public on Tuesday. In addition, she was subject to the same night surveillance regime as any inmate in the Caen remand center: three rounds per night. “with eyepiece control” on the cell door.
” A fault “
The prison administration was however aware of a judicial expertise dating from 2017, which established “a highly pathological personality, structured in a psychotic mode”, with a persecutory syndrome, as well as his hospitalizations in psychiatric services from his childhood. Between June 2018 and her death, Pauline Depirou had appeared twenty-three times before the disciplinary committee.
Despite all these elements, the prison administration ” doesn’t (…) took the steps that could reasonably be expected of him to prevent Ms.me Depirou. Under these conditions, the prison administration committed a fault likely to engage the responsibility of the State.writes the court.
The State must therefore “to be declared entirely responsible for the harmful consequences of the suicide of Mrs.me Pauline Depirou » and pay a total of more than 100,000 euros in damages to the parents and family of the deceased, he concludes.