The self-appointed home of human rights is having a tough time of it just now. Two searing indictments of France have been left for President Macron as parting presents by the country’s two retiring guardians of rights. Their descriptions of the consequences of ministerial inaction over the years chime with a deep sense of outrage across much of the French public over the new government just appointed by Macron.
Adeline Hazan, the Controller General of Places of Deprivation of Liberty (the literal translation of her title), has been for six years the equivalent of the two Chief Inspectors of Prisons in Britain. As with the Inspectors’ reports in Britain, her regular reports have excoriated conditions in prisons, police cells and psychiatric hospitals.
Only as recently as 2009 did French law establish the principle of resettlement – preparing prisoners for life outside so they could avoid re-offending – and clarify that prisoners did have rights. But things have not stopped going down hill since.
