Cell doors that can be easily forced open, cracks in the walls, insecure gates and gaps in surveillance videos.
Paris (21 Jan. 2009) - France's experiment with private-public partnership (P3) prisons is proving to be a costly and dangerous failure, say a growing number of critics.
The controversial P3 model allows private companies to build, and own, correctional facilities that are then leased to the government. Similar experiments have been tried, with poor results, in Canada, although the concept remains under consideration by a number of provincial governments.
On Dec. 28 the P3 prison at Mont-de-Marsan was closed and evacuated when a power failure deactivated lighting, heating and a number of security measures. The prison is virtually new, opened in November 2007.
Now there are calls to delay the opening of a new detention centre in Roanne, built by French company Eiffage, due to construction defects.
Blaming each other
"Maintenance services cannot keep up with the work needed," says Vincent Mora, a union representative from the Union fédérale automne pénitentiaire (UFAP). "In the mean time, Eiffage and the prison's administrators are laying responsibility for these repairs at each other's feet. Since no one wants to pay for the repairs, nothing is getting done."
The UFAP, which represents French correctional officers, has reported that tests show a wide range of problems. These include cell doors that can be easily forced open, cracks in the walls, gates that don't reach the floor and gaps in coverage by surveillance videos.
"The facilities are lovely, but things don't work. This is a fix-it job at this point even though the prison is costing the state €100 million ($160 million Cdn) and the first inmates are scheduled to arrive next Monday," says Mora.
"We can't bring in inmates under these conditions. By the end of it, the penitentiary's administration was asking us to stop putting too much pressure on the equipment during security exercises so we wouldn't break anything," he adds.
Many see this as yet another ill-conceived attempt to involve the private sector in corrections.
Failed Ontario experiment
In Canada, the Ontario government reversed — in November 2006 — a decision by former Tory premier Mike Harris to privatize adult correctional facilities. A contract the province had with a Utah-based company to operate the Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC) in Penetanguishene — the first private adult jail in Canada — was not renewed when it expired.
After comparing the private operation of the facility to that of the publicly-run Central East Correctional Centre (CECC), the province found that the CECC performed better in key areas such as security, health care and reducing re-offending rates.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
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