Abstract
How can the upsetting, paradoxical idea that escaping from prison would be a “right” be not only expressed, but garner appreciable public echo? To answer this question, this chapter deals with the controversy surrounding high security units, dubbed “QHS” (for Quartiers de haute sécurité), in late 1970s’ France. At that time, these units were widely criticized for being dreadful sites, repeatedly compared to tombs or torture chambers; therefore, they became a focal point of prison struggles against the “state”. Putting these struggles in the context of “1968” and its aftermath, this chapter also focuses on a trial that took place in 1978 as an emblematic “affair”, in the sociological as well as legal sense of the term.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for example, Merquior (1985, p. 13): “… Foucault was a polite professor who relished scandalizing the Parisian establishment which lionized him by solemnly stating that the first duty of prisoners was to try to escape…”. One of the former co-founders of the daily newspaper Libération, Philippe Gavi (1998, p. 218), has even mentioned an epic scene in which Foucault himself, wearing a wig, supposedly fomented an escape…
- 2.
The existing literature about the GIP has now become significant, even when limited to English-language scholarship . See, for example, Brich 2008; Welch 2011; Salle 2014; and Dilts and Zurn 2016. The CAP took over the cause of prisoners at the end of 1972, after the GIP was disbanded (see Soulié 1999, and more generally Bérard 2013, pp. 31–97).
- 3.
- 4.
A few years later, in January 1978 (i.e. just before Foucault took his aforementioned stand), three officers were held hostage in the same prison by two inmates trying to escape, and were eventually killed by police elite troops.
- 5.
This chapter relies on documents derived from two archival sources (the French National Archives and a collection held by the Institut d’Histoire du Temps Présent, a research unit in contemporary history). I did not, however, carry out a full and systematic study of the voluminous material. A thorough, cross-checked, and comprehensive historical study of the French prison system during this period (around the issue of “Q.H.S.” in particular, but also with respect to the “1968 years”) is still to be written.
- 6.
Charlie Bauer (1943–2011) was first convicted at the age of 19 for armed robberies he justified as politically motivated. He would later be associated with felon Jacques Mesrine (see infra). A far-left activist who earned a PhD in Anthropology within the walls, he spent about 25 years in different prisons, including almost a decade in solitary confinement .
- 7.
This is precisely what Foucault criticized in his earlier quoted statement, considering that the criminal justice system is, at least formally, not supposed to judge personal dispositions, but only illegal actions.
- 8.
Letter from the French Minister of Justice Jean Lecanuet to all authorities concerned, “Instructions about the running of prisons or units of strengthened security”, May 15, 1975 (IHTP archives, series ARC 3017-16, file IV-35).
- 9.
French National Archives, Series 20010085, file 351.
- 10.
A range from six to nine is to be found in the existing literature. This uncertain figure tells us a good deal about the exceptional character of the situation.
- 11.
Letter from Prime Minister Jacques Chirac to all authorities concerned, “Maintenance of law and order ” (stamp “secret”), March 28, 1975 (IHTP archives, series ARC 3017-13, file IV-4).
- 12.
“L’administration pénitentiaire en 1975” (IHTP, ARC 3017-13, file IV-2).
- 13.
It happened that, at least on paper, this legal action would turn out to be a partial success. The decree was partly canceled by the Conseil d’État, considering that entrusting the administration with the task of placing inmates was illegal. This decision did not change much on the ground, though; therefore, it appeared to some as a “fake victory” (see, e.g. Colcombet 1977).
- 14.
Also see Elizabeth Vieux, “Au nom de la sécurité”, Libération, January 11, 1978; Jean-Paul Lévy, “Quartier de haute surveillance”, Libération, January 12, 1978.
- 15.
“Notre détention n’est plus humainement supportable”, Libération, November 3, 1977.
- 16.
See “La vie en QSR”, Libération, July 8–9, 1978; “La chair à bâton des QHS”, Libération, August 5, 1978; “QHS”, Libération, May 26–27, 1979; “Yves Maupetit et les QHS”, Libération, August 6, 1979. On the newspaper itself, see, for example, Christofferson (2004, p. 72 sq.).
- 17.
Jacques Mesrine (1936–79), nicknamed “public enemy no 1”, is known as one of the most famous gangsters in France’s contemporary history. Roger Knobelspiess (1947–2017) is known for his book Q.H.S. (Knobelspiess 1980), published in 1980 (more than 300,000 copies sold). He always claimed his innocence concerning the small offens he was first convicted for, before turning into a “real” felon. A writer of several books, essays, and novels, he spent more than 25 years in prison.
- 18.
“Préavis de grève dans les QHS”, January 9, 1978 [IHTP, ARC 3017-16/IV-35].
- 19.
“We use the term ‘affair’ to designate processes of mobilization in the public sphere that revolve around the case of a person or persons constituting the object of an accusation and potentially subject to legal charges. In this sense an affair is defined first of all by a system of slots that include a victim (unjustly accused), an offender, an accuser, a denouncer (the person who takes it upon himself of herself to exonerate the accused), a judge (whose role is played most often today by the sovereign people, public opinion, or humanity in general). An affair constitutes a moment of uncertainty as to the identity of the empirical persons who are to occupy the various slots in this system” (Boltanski and Thévenot 2006, p. 359).
- 20.
“La détention depuis mon arrestation, le 5 septembre 1975” (IHTP, ARC 3017-16, file IV-35).
- 21.
In a tribute to Jacques Mesrine, author Alèssi Dell’Umbria (2014) recently noted: “The escape from the Santé, on May 8, 1978, would have been magnificent had it not been for the death of Carman Rives, who followed Jacques Mesrine and François Besse at the last minute and was shot down by the police at the wall of the prison. (…) An escape is above all a great cause for celebration among all the other prisoners, those who remained behind and who on that day witnessed a flash of light that illuminated the monotony of prison: the prison colony is not invincible (Jocelyn Deraiche, then incarcerated in Fleury-Mérogis, recounted that the prisoners organized an extraordinary disturbance to celebrate the good news; the same thing happened in most of the prisons in France).” It should be no surprise that it appears in Paul Buck’s “True Stories of the World’s Greatest Escapes” (2012, p. 195 sq.). The fact is that this escape also contributed to hardening prison and penal policies, contributing to make the year 1978 a turning point toward a neoconservative backlash.
- 22.
CAP , “S’évader de l’enfer est un droit !”, n.d. [1978].
- 23.
“La réforme pénitentiaire”, n.d. [1975) [IHTP, ARC 3017-15, file IV-23].
- 24.
IHTP, ARC 3017-16, file IV-35.
- 25.
See, for example, “Le plaidoyer du détenu Roubal contre les QHS”, Libération, March 14, 1980; “Le procès de Libération dans les Quartiers Hautement Silencieux”, Libération, December 16, 1980.
- 26.
“Les QHS condamnés par un tribunal”, Libération, December 17, 1979.
Sources
Archives
Institut d’histoire du temps present (IHTP), Étienne Bloch collection.
– Series ARC 3017-13, file IV-2 (“L’administration pénitentiaire”)
– Series ARC 3017-13, file IV-4 (“Sécurité et évasion”)
– Series ARC 3017-15, file IV-23 (“La réforme de 1975”)
– Series ARC 3017-16, file IV-35 (“Les violences”)
French National Archives
– Series 20010085, file 351 (“Quartiers de haute sécurité”), 1977–1981
Print Sources (Press Excluded)
Anon. (1977). Les quartiers de sécurité renforcée. Actes. Cahiers d’action juridique, 13–14.
Architecture et prisons. (1985). rapport présenté au Garde des Sceaux par la commission d’étude, 2 Vol., French Ministry of Justice, March.
Colcombet François. (1979). QHS. Esprit, 11, 134–135.
Comité d’action des prisonniers (ed.). (1978). Complément d’information avant le Procès de Lisieux. MM. Les Jurés (au nom du peuple français) Il faut savoir…, June. [Supplement to the Journal du CAP, #56].
Comité d’action des prisonniers. Journal du CAP, #52 (January 1978), #53 (Feb–March 1978).
Fize Michel (with E. Cazin, P. Suleau, C. Pauchet). (1984). L’isolement cellulaire dans les établissements pénitentiaires français (t.2: “Exclusion, isolement ou quasi-isolement déguisé? Le cas très particulier des ‘quartiers de haute sécurité’”, Direction de l’administration pénitentiaire, Service des études, de la documentation et des statistiques (Travaux et documents), October 29.
Laimé Marc. (1982). Vers un syndicalisme de prisonniers. Actes, 37, 20–23.
Syndicat de la Magistrature. (1974). 30 ans de politique pénitentiaire, Justice, 3–5.
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Acknowledgments
The author thanks the editors, Tomas Martin and Gilles Chantraine, for their comments, and especially Emery Roe for his kind and valuable reading of an earlier version of this chapter.
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Salle, G. (2018). Chapter 7 “Escaping from Hell Is a Right!”: The Case of France’s “Q.H.S.” (1975–1982). In: Martin, T., Chantraine, G. (eds) Prison Breaks. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64358-8_8
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