Why and how did Assane Gueye die? On Monday 9 September, the Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis) public prosecutor’s office was to open a judicial inquiry for involuntary manslaughter to clarify the circumstances of the death of this 51-year-old man which occurred on Saturday 17 August in the Meaux-Saint-Denis Chauconin prison (Seine-et-Marne).
One thing is already clear: Assane Gueye should not have been in custody that day. Arrested immediately before the Meaux court the day before for sexual assault, violence and kidnapping, he was sentenced to three years in prison with suspension of payment, and was due to be released that same evening. After two days of pretrial detention awaiting trial, all he had to do was return to the penitentiary to complete the formalities to lift his sentence and collect his personal belongings.
However, in the criminal record sent by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to the prison administration, in order to inform the latter of the sentence handed down, the deputy prosecutor present at the hearing mentioned a sentence of three years, two of which were suspended, with continued detention. “My colleague did not understand well, he made a mistake and he takes responsibility for it”Meaux prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier admits that this criminal form, filled out by hand, is not subject to any review by the president or the secretary at the hearing.
“Controlled by professional gestures”
Assane Gueye therefore remained in detention upon his return from court on Friday 16 August. He died early the following evening. “inside his cell, while his behaviour, characterised by a high level of excitement and incoherent comments, as well as having damaged his entire cell, had justified the intervention of prison administration officials”The Meaux prosecutor’s office said in a press release that the purpose of this intervention was to transfer Assane Gueye to an emergency protection cell (CPROU), a place suitable, in principle, for detainees who present an imminent risk of suicide.
“As soon as the door to his cell was opened, the inmate came into contact with the shield, “, says Pierre Kaced, supervisor of the Meaux prison and local secretary of the CGT-Penitentiary, who did not take part in the intervention, but is spokesman for his four colleagues concerned. The officers controlled him with professional gestures, without any violence. They put his arms behind his back so they could handcuff him. The inmate was struggling, he had flooded his cell with water and detergent and had smeared it on his body, making him slippery. He was knocked to the ground cleanly, without shock, without impact. A few seconds later the decision was made to put him back on his feet to advance towards the CPROU, and we realized that, unfortunately, he was unconscious. » Resuscitation efforts were in vain.
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