Contenu du sommaire : Administration et politiques pénitentiaires

Prison Reform During the Third Republic Co-Management Between Public and Private Actors Prison reform during the Third Republic was less the result of willingness on the part of central authority as a complex game of interaction between actors occupying different social spaces : the administration in charge of prisons and the General Inspectorate of Administrative Services, but also the High Council of Prisons and the General Society of Prisons. Detention policy thus appeared to be a rather institutionalised co-production by public and private actors.

French Prison Administration : Evolution of its Audience and Missions Often regarded as an essentially orderly administration, grappling with social conflicts, prisoners' riots and dramatic escapes, the french prison administration is also seen as backward-looking. Nevertheless, it is one of the most secure penitentiary Systems of administration in Europe and one which has undergone sweeping changes over the last twenty years in its methods of handling prisoners as well as in its organisation and tasks. It is this reform which is traced in this article.

Prisoners' Rights in the Fifth Republic : Real Progress ? While the rights of prisoners have been progressively strengthened during the Fifth Republic, there remains nevertheless much progress still to be made. As recent case law developments and reforms in penal law show, certain limits upon the rights granted to prisoners still persist, be it regarding the right to defend oneself or the exercise of rights of appeal.

Liberating Sentencing Policy ! The Place of Open Prisons in Penitentiary Policies Penitentiary policies have undergone a certain number of changes influenced in particular by the quest for alternatives to incarceration and the desire on the part of society for a ‘zero' risk guarantee. These transformations may be the object of various critiques which suggest the need to underline the necessity to reorganise the two functions of open prisons -surveillance and social rehabilitation.

Detention Policy — a Challenge for the Administration The specificity of detention policy has led the legislature and the administration to experiment and be creative in adopting original solutions. Thus, french detention policy is marked by both its precursory aspects and its occasional archaic remnants.

Externalizing the Prison Administration's Tasks : the Impact of the Delegated Management Development Developed in 1986, the idea of conferring the construction and operation of french prisons to private companies has today become a reality with the adoption and the entry into effect of the Act of 22 June 1987. This has created an important model of shared management in which some tasks may be delegated to private sector firms while the administration retains control over a hard core of activities where competences cannot be transferred.

Training and Evolution of the Tasks of Penal Officers Training has found its mark only very progressively within prison administration. Yet, following a number of adaptations, it now exists and is carried out by a single national school. This school is charged with providing professional training founded upon the principle of alternation. The content of the training has also evolved. In fact, while in the past the objective was to provide only elementary training for personnel in the penal service, the aim for the future is to facilitate their acquisition of a calm and confident approach towards their activities. Moreover, the National school for prison administration has begun to undertake research.

Control Over Prisons The Canivet Commission on improving extemal control over penal establishments underlined the present deficiencies : a System of multiple and imperfect internal checks and a System of supranational control which, while real, is too distant. Thus, in its report, the Commission traces the key guidelines for reforming control over prisons which should be an extemal activity and should take into account the specificity of prison administration.

Prison Reform in Belgium : Administration and Legal Status of Prisoners In 1996, for the first time, an ambitious process of legislative prison reform was launched in Belgium. Nevertheless, and despite real political will to achieve a successful solution, the proposed reform reserves a role for the administration which inevitably brings with it the seeds of substantial difficulties as regards its application. In fact, the prison policy which has been introduced does not take into account the overall functioning of the criminal justice System in Belgium.

The Spanish Penitentiary System In weighing up the balance of the Spanish penitentiary System it is necessary to note some important improvements conceming infrastructure, diet, medical services, access to work, outside communication, the commitment to end poor treatment and the legal protection of prisoners, while it remains the case that the issues surrounding the rehabilitation of prisoners persist in being problematic.

Administrative Reform — a Key Factor in Prison Reform in the Post-Soviet Republics While the post-soviet Republics have become democratised, the same cannot be said of their penitentiary Systems. State totalitarianism has in fact been substituted by an administrative totalitarianism with prison personnel playing the role in principle attributed to the State and exercising a badly supervised authority over prisoners. Hence, it is only administrative reform which will enable democratie values to enter the prisons of the post-soviet Republics.