The State condemned for taking too long to improve detention conditions

Three years to install mosquito nets, a year and a half to change the windows… Justice, which had called for quick action in the face of the catastrophic conditions of detention in Nouméa prison, condemned the State for its particularly long delays in executions.

The administrative court of New Caledonia and then Council of State, to which the International Prison Observatory (OIP) refers, had asked the Ministry of Justice in 2020 to urgently apply a series of measures “to stop illegal attacks on the fundamental rights of detainees” in the overcrowded Camp-Est prison in Nouméa. Given the administration’s delay, the OIP appealed to the courts again last February.

In addition to the delays in installing mosquito nets or changing windows, the OIP also criticized the State for the excessive delay in the execution of court orders regarding the possibility for detainees to wash their clothes and rehabilitate electrical installations and Replace faulty electrical systems. fans, the prevention of the rise of wastewater in the transit yards or even the reduction of the unhealthy conditions of the water points and toilets in the miners’ neighborhoods.

“Serious violation of fundamental rights”

“Total response time” relevant judicial decisions “It is established at 55 months”far from “short notice” claimed by the courts, notes the administrative court of New Caledonia in its decision, issued on October 24 and consulted by the Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Such delay constitutes a culpable illegality that compromises the responsibility of the State.”the court estimates.

The State was ordered to pay 1,500 euros to the OIP for the moral damage resulting from the delay in the execution of judicial decisions. “because it harms the collective interests defended by the association”. When asked, the Ministry of Justice did not immediately react.

Already in 2011 and again in 2019, the Comptroller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (CGLPL) reported a “serious violation of fundamental rights” in Noumea prison, which in September had a prison density rate of 164%.

The former Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, confirmed after a visit in February that a new prison facility would be built in New Caledonia to address prison overcrowding. “What I saw” it’s not “not worthy”said. “We have to put an end to it”. However, this work should not begin before 2028, for delivery in 2032, he specified.