Prison visitor

Verified 10 May 2024 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of Justice

Want to become a prison visitor? You can be an adult if you are an adult and your criminal record is blank. A prison visitor contributes pro bono improving the living conditions of inmates. Its main mission is to help these individuals prepare for their reintegration into the business. The prison visitor always intervenes in a penal institution. We present you with the information you need to know.

A prison visitor is a volunteer of the National Association of Visitors of Persons Under Hand of Justice (ANVP).

Its mission is to visit detainees. In this way, it contributes to their reintegration into the business.

The prison visitor intervenes with isolated inmates. It provides them with listening and support.

Prison visitors may in particular:

  • Assist the detained person with administrative procedures (e.g. legal aid)
  • Interacting with the detainee, without the presence of a supervisor
  • Participate in group activities organized in the prison.

All detained person has the right to a prison visitor, regardless the offense that she committed. The prison visitor is not aware of the facts for which the person is being detained.

The prison visitor accompanies the detained person to the prison for which he or she is certified.

He can follow a person sentenced or placed in pretrial detention. However, when an inmate is subject to a communication banHowever, the prison visitor cannot get in touch with her.

Generally speaking, it works with a single person. However, depending on local needs and availability, it may be offered to follow several of them.

FYI  

The prison visitor accompanies only persons with whom he or she has no friendship or family ties.

To become an accompanying visitor, you must:

  • Being of age
  • Have a clean criminal record
  • Obtain approval from prison services

Application for approval

Applications for approval can be made by post or online. The applicant must be a member of theNAPA: titleContent by paying a contribution of at least €40.

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By postal mail

The request must be addressed to the Director of the IPPC on which the detained person. The applicant shall provide the following information:

  • Surname, first name, date and place of birth
  • Nationality
  • Family status (e.g. single, married, etc.)
  • Occupation
  • Personal Address
  • Prison(s) with which he wishes to intervene
  • Why he wants to be a prison visitor.

They must also attach the following documents:

  • Photocopy of vital card
  • 2 ID photos.
Who shall I contact

Online

The request can be made directly on the website of theNAPA: titleContent.

You can join theNAPA: titleContent as soon as you apply. In this case, you will pay the membership fee directly online.

Procedure for obtaining approval

Approval is granted by the prison services.

After applying for approval, the applicant must:

  • Meet correspondent NAPA: titleContent of the prison in which he wishes to volunteer
  • Meet with the institution's PIPS manager
  • Be the subject of an administrative inquiry (on his personality, psychological balance, availability, etc.). This investigation may take several months.

Following these 3 steps, the Director of the SPIP: titleContent draw up a report and seek the opinion of the prefect of the department in which the candidate resides.

The file is then forwarded to the Interregional Director of Prison Services (the superior of the Director of SPIP: titleContent), which takes the final decision.

Decision of the Interregional Director of Prison Services

If the Interregional Director of Prison Services decides to grant the applicant approval, he shall first inform the Director of the SPIP: titleContent. He then draws up a prison visitor card in 2 copies (one for the visitor, the other for the prison). Thus, visits can begin.

The license is valid for a period of 2 years. It may be renewed upon written request of the prison visitor.

Before starting his volunteer activity, the prison visitor is informed of the obligations to which he will have to submit during the visits. All these obligations are laid down in a charter which it concludes with theNAPA: titleContent and prison administration.

Rules and regulations In addition, he must respect the standards of the penitentiary, particularly with regard to discipline and security.

The prison visitor undertakes to:

  • Dedicating time to volunteer activities, without interfering with their professional and personal activities
  • Accompany the detainee while respecting the missions of the Penitentiary Service for Integration and Probation (SPIP)
  • Report to SPIP: titleContent any information relevant to the follow-up of the detained person and the smooth running of the support
  • Exercise discretion by not disclosing any confidences that the detainee may have made to him
  • Do not make a dangerous tool available to the detainee.

Organization of visits to the penitentiary

Prison visitor meets the detained person, within the prison.

Visits to remand centers take place once a week. If the person is held in a central house or detention center, they are held once or twice a month.

The visiting hours and days are fixed by the head of the prison in agreement with the prison visitor.

Exchange times are organized in a room inside the prison. They always take place without the presence of a supervisor.

Prison visitors do not need a visiting permit to enter the prison. The authorization granted to him allows him to enter the establishment in order to meet the person he is following.

Please note

When there are reasons to believe that the prison visitor is preparing to commit a crime infringement because they may endanger the security of the prison, authorized guards may check the identity of the prison. In case of opposition to identity checks, these monitors can use force to hold the person pending the arrival of a national police or gendarmerie officer.

These supervisors may also do palpation from the person concerned, to a visual inspection of his/her belongings (e.g. bag) and, if he/she agrees, to a search of them.

Exchanges by postal mail

The prison visitor and the person he accompanies may exchange in writing, in an open letter and without prior authorization.

Mail can be controlled and retained by the prison administration.

The duration of the escort shall be determined according to the needs of the detained person. The prison visitor and the person he follows are free to end the accompaniment at any time.

Approval may be secluded in 2 ways:

  • Of its own motion, by the prison administration
  • By decision of the judicial authorities (sentencing judge and public prosecutor). In this case, the prison visitor is informed that the withdrawal has been requested by the judicial authorities.

In case of urgency and for serious reasons, approval may also be suspended by the Director of the IPPC in which the beneficiary person is followed. In this case, the Interregional Director of Prison Services shall be immediately informed of the situation which led to this request for suspension.

Except where the withdrawal is ordered by the judicial authorities, the prison visitor is informed of the reasons for which the prison administration wishes to suspend or withdraw its approval. For example, failure to comply with an obligation set out in the charter of commitment may lead to the suspension or withdrawal of approval.

The prison visitor is also informed of the conditions for challenge that decision. If he so requests, the prison visitor may submit written observations and make an oral defense before the prison administration. In the course of that interview, he may be assisted by a lawyer.

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