Interview

“A decision to have a prison in a city is also a decision not to hide it.”

Do cities have a part to play in reintegration?

< image © Mélanie Bouteille

“Speakers’ Corner” Series

Residents and citizens feel differently about a prison in the city centre to one pushed to the outskirts, be it an old or a newly built prison. Its location, accessibility, the region it covers and its links with its social and economic surroundings have a decisive impact on the conditions of detention inside.  

Hidden prison, modern prison, dilapidated prison, “open” prison: wall to wall, Prison Insider investigated the links between city and prison. In partnership with Rescaled, we gave a number of different people a space to share their point of view.   

Antoine Dulin wrote the notice on reintegration published by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Conseil économique social et environnemental, CESE) in 2019. He is the “social and solidarities” advisor for the president of the city of Lyon.

When they are released, a person can find themselves without access to guaranteed minimum welfare payments or accommodation, without a place to sleep...

In France, some detention facilities are still inaccessible by public transport, far away from everything.

I am convinced that if we give people the opportunity to act, that will play a role in that all-important “penny drop” moment.