DOUBLE PUNISHMENT

Disciplinary offences include possessing a mobile phone (which are prohibited in French
prisons), refusing to obey a prison officer, and violence against prison guards. 55
A prisoner punished by detention in a disciplinary cell is held there alone, banned from
participating in activities and from working. They have the right to go outside for an hour
per day for exercise in a special courtyard, where they are alone with a guard. In such
circumstances, prisoners with psychosocial disabilities may experience the punishment as
disproportionately harsh compared to prisoners without such disabilities.
As noted, doctors do not take part in disciplinary commissions, where decisions on
disciplinary sanctions are taken, and they have valid ethical and professional reasons not
to want to get involved in such commissions. 56 A psychiatrist in a remand prison told
Human Rights Watch “the act that constitutes the disciplinary fault can be due to the
[mental] illness. We don’t participate in the disciplinary commission. There are guards who
realize that it’s in that context and who don’t send them [to a disciplinary cell]. But it
depends on the guard.” 57
The impact that the specific conditions of disciplinary cells may have on the health and
mental and physical integrity of the prisoner should be taken into account when
determining if a prisoner may be held in a disciplinary cell. Prisoners should have the
choice to have a mental or medical health professional give evidence during the
disciplinary commission, and provide expert opinion on the impact of the conditions of a
disciplinary cell on the prisoner, particularly in light of any mental health issues or
psychosocial disability.
For serious breaches of prison rules, there is inevitably some tension between maintaining
order in prison and the risk of detaining a prisoner who is experiencing psychosis in a
disciplinary cell, where his or her mental health can deteriorate and he or she can self-
55 Code of Criminal Procedure, Art R57-7-1 to 57-7-3,
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do;jsessionid=7580737C6E1E8F3EECA2E6351DEB853E.tpdila23v_1?idSectionTA=L
EGISCTA000023349070&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006071154&dateTexte=20150714 (accessed March 19, 2016).
56 Code of Criminal Procedure, Article R57-7-6: Disciplinary commissions include the director of the prison or a delegate, a
prison guard and a person that is external to the prison administration,
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do;jsessionid=DA1BDD12DFFC057C5CDAE790E7C9CB5B.tpdila23v_1?idSectionTA
=LEGISCTA000023349411&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006071154&dateTexte=20150714 (accessed March 19, 2016).
57 Human Rights Watch interview with a psychiatrist in a remand prison, 2015.
31 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | APRIL 2016