“Dangerous people are better off here than outside”: the Prefect of Hérault visits the CRA in Sète on New Year's Eve

François-Xavier Lauch au CRA de Sète ce 31 décembre. Hélène Amiraux

François-Xavier Lauch s’est rendu au CRA en ce 31 décembre 2024 pour saluer les personnels sur le pont. Le représentant de l’Etat en a profité pour faire le point sur la sécurité de l’établissement.

Among the stops of the Prefect of Hérault, for the services mobilized for the night of December 31, François-Xavier Lauch, did not forget the administrative detention center of Sète (CRA). An important step for the staff on duty at this establishment who did not avoid any problem in front of the representative of the State. Security, lack of staff or even working conditions, all the subjects were discussed in the presence of Olivier Harguindeguy, the interdepartmental director of the Border Police (PAF) and Benoît Desmartin, interdepartmental director of the national police of Hérault.

“Dangerous” people

On this last day of the year, two regular police officers and two assistant security police officers, under the leadership of the head of the CRA, Commander Philippe (his name is not disclosed for security reasons) were on deck (12 hours at night) to monitor no fewer than 26 people placed in administrative detention for a maximum of 90 days (maximum capacity 28 people, Editor's note). Foreigners in an irregular situation on French territory, a large number of whom were leaving prison or people deemed “dangerous” to public order, particularly radicalized, awaiting deportation.

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Removal: “The figures have progressed well”

« The two penitentiary establishments of Béziers and Villeneuve-les-Maguelone, have a significant weight on the CRA, due to the number of foreign exits who do not have identity documents», indicates the director of the PAF Olivier Harguindeguy. « We work very upstream with the penitentiary establishments according to a protocol, to have the list, before their entry into the CRA, explains the prefect. And with our PAF experts, we are doing identification work, to obtain passports or consular documents within 90 days maximum and be able to remove them. This year we have made a lot of progress and have returned to a level before Covid. I would like to emphasize the excellent relations with Morocco but it is more complicated with Algeria. The prefect adds: “I am uncompromising with all people in an irregular situation for whom I request an OQTF. But with or without a delay, these people are supposed to leave the territory voluntarily. The OFII also provides a sum for this. Many agree to leave voluntarily, the numbers have increased significantly this year.

“I am well aware that you are not dealing with the same public as before”

A new context since 2020 and a desire of the former Minister of the Interior and now Keeper of the Seals Gérald Darmanin. And consequently more dangerous on a daily basis as the staff reminded the State representative. “I am well aware that you are not dealing with the same audience as before”, summarized the prefect François-Xavier Lauch. Indicating that he was working to improve the security of an old establishment (renovated in 2022) which was not originally intended to be a prison. After the spectacular escape of ten detainees last May (seven out of ten escapees have been found to date), on the night of Friday 10 to Saturday 11 May last through a roof grille, the security of the site was reinforced. New cameras as well as new telemetric alarm devices were installed. A second so-called isolation room “to isolate more troublemakers” should be set up in January, the prefect assured.

“To regulate some of the tensions at night”

“We still have things to do. We are also working to close the rooms at night and to ensure that the doors can open automatically in the event of a fire and evacuation,” says François-Xavier Lauch, who hopes that this will help to “resolve some of the tensions at night.” Faced with the lack of staff (66 staff in total) reported in particular by the unions, “we are coping”, he says, indicating that he has “intervened with the central management of the national police” to change the ratios of the Sète CRA. He ensures that the departure of permanent officers will be replaced by assistant police officers, even if these contract officers do not have the same experience.
As for the calls for the closure of this type of site launched by the associations, François-Xavier Lauch could not be clearer. “Dangerous people are better off here than outside”. “The lack of places in CRA is a barrier to removal. Besides, I am working on a new CRA with 200 police posts near Béziers, we have the land, the protected funds. We are hopeful. But the CRA in Sète is very important”.

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