General prisons controller pleads for better access to the fixed phone of prisoners

“Access to the telephone (fixed) must be guaranteed to the detained persons, at any time and regardless of their detention regime”wished the general control of places of deprivation of freedom (CGLPL) in a notice published Wednesday in the Official Journal.

“All districts, including disciplinary, must be equipped with cells in cells and accessible points accessible under conditions and hours compatible with the objectives of maintaining family ties, access to the rights of defense and from preparation to the exit »said Dominique Simonnot in this opinion sent to the Minister of Justice on December 3.

Since 2019, fixed phones, the use of which is limited to certain numbers, have been installed in each cell but “This progress nevertheless does not benefit everyone”note the CGLPL in its opinion. So, “Prisoners subject to a disciplinary or affected sanction in certain specific districts have only limited access to the phone”.

In his opinion, the CGLPL also pleads for “Bring the cost of telephone calls and the Visiophonie of the average market accessible to the free population closer to the free population” recalling that “The cost of telephony and videophony (in prison) is prohibitive”.

The CGLPL, an independent administrative authority responsible for defending fundamental rights in prisons, but also psychiatric hospitals, administrative detention centers, closed educational centers and police custody, also hopes that ” reflection “ be committed “On the possibilities of controlled access to mobile phones in detention”.

Despite their ban, mobile phones are omnipresent in prison. Some 40,000 laptops were seized in the prisons in 2024, according to the Ministry of Justice.

“It is not very realistic, certainly, to imagine maintaining the prohibition for those detained of use, which has become so commonplace, of the mobile phone”estimates the CGLPL.

At the end of December, the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin had announced his intention to “Clean prisons” mobile phones thanks to operations “Net Place” similar to those launched against drug trafficking.