Every morning, the routine is the same for these nine volunteer inmates of Beauvais prison (Oise). The supervisors come to pick them up at 7:30 in the morning. The inmates arrive a little before 8 a.m. at their workplace, within the penitentiary center. Until 11:30 a.m., then from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., everyone is busy at their post: sorting clothes for Emmaüs or cutting up old clothes transformed into wiping cloths for Solitex. All this from Monday to Thursday, for just under €500 per month. But above all to reintegrate.
It’s been a year since the textile sorting and recycling workshop exists at Beauvais prison. Since November 6, 2023, to be exact. Its specificity: in addition to having a job, detainees are accompanied after their release from detention to return to the professional world, and thus better reintegrate into society. “Today, 31% of prisoners work in prison, instead of 50% at the start of the 2000s.traces Sophie Bleuet, interregional director of prison services. 50% have no diplomas, and less than 10% have the baccalaureate. We must make work a tool for integration and build an employment path in prison, both in terms of skills and in terms of social rights..”
Voluntary prisoners
In Hauts-de-France, six prison centers are testing integration workshops and projects. In Douai (North), prisoners work in the bakery sector. In Amiens (Somme), they repair household appliances. In Bapaume (Pas-de-Calais) and Sequedin (North), they make and wash reusable diapers. In Valenciennes (North), they repair electric bikes. And in Beauvais, finally, they sort clothes and make rags. “It is the prisoners who request to join these workshopsspecifies Marie Gomes, senior manager of prison work at Beauvais prison. They have to be willing to make it work..”
Volunteers are ultimately not what is lacking. If today there are nine working in this integration workshop in Beauvais, the waiting list would not be empty. Because ultimately, everyone finds something for themselves. “Here we are followedsays an inmate. When I get out of prison, I won’t find myself alone in front of the administration. Because the longer we stay in prison, the less patient we are. So if we are accompanied, it’s better.»
Leave your cell
At 48 years old, this inmate is not on his first conviction. But he sees this integration workshop as a real breath of fresh air. “I can’t stand being in a cell anymore, the prison population has become much youngerhe explains. We no longer understand each other. Apart from football, we don’t have too many topics to discuss anymore. Here I see people from other buildings. We feed each other information to find out what’s happening elsewhere, to find out how others are doing. This place is a gateway between buildings. And it’s quieter. We can joke with the supervisors. And here, we are not allowed to smoke. So that helps us save on cigarettes.» Another inmate, for his part, clearly admits it. He’s here for the sentencing. “And it passes the time, it’s better than being in a cell“, he confides.
For the prison administration, this structure of integration through economic activity (SIAE) is a real springboard for preparing the release of prisoners. “98,600 people leave detention every month, or eleven every hoursupports Ludovic Gorez, head of the L’Îlot workshop and integration project, with which the Beauvais penitentiary center works. If we don’t work on their exit, it’s over.»
L’Îlot also works with companies so that they have a different look at the CVs of these people. And thus create a bridge between work in detention and work outside. So that reintegration goes as well as possible, as quickly as possible. And thus avoid recurrence.
