In prison, pass by the box training

at the prison of Fleury-Mérogis, a few hundred prisoners prepare diplomas while in detention. At the workshop, the days whizz by more quickly than in the cells and the inmates prepare for life outside the walls.

The room looks like any shop training in electricity. A dozen men in blue work, often young people, connect carefully the wires to the meters. Each student has a set to his name. It is the day of the exam and an instructor monitors them from far away. You need to get out of the apartment by the locked front door and take a look at the outside, from the corridor, to take the measure of the decor unusual. The broken panes suggest an exercise yard, prisoners can be seen wandering in groups of two or three. Above, a wall of greyish cover of "yo-yos", the strings that prisoners tend between the windows to move objects. The workshops are those of the maison d'arrêt de Fleury-Mérogis, in the Essonne, the largest detention centre in Europe.

A dozen of these places are located along the walls of the buildings for men. There marched the prisoners, who use their detention to prepare a diploma. "Six hours a day, every day of the week except Wednesday where they have sports", recalls Thierry Pagès, instructor in electricity. Mechanic, operator, painter... The training provided by private agencies in preparing for professional credentials, level IV or V, the equivalent of the bac pro or CAP. A large number of detainees arriving at Fleury-Mérogis without qualification.

"The judge takes them into account"

in the workshop couture, Christian* crushes a sleeve of the jacket to the iron. "I opened the seam to remove the thick", he commented, pencil stuck behind the ear. A few meters from him, scissors, cutters hang of nails fixed on a table. Their mark painted in red, serves to verify that no inmate shall be equipped with a tool at the end of the day. Christian prepares for the review of "manufacturer of custom-made clothing". Many inmates sign up for training in the hope of making their sentence. Christian doesn't hide it. "If you behave well in the workshops, the judge takes this into account. It is also a better view of the guards." It should leave Fleury in February instead of April, the original term of his sentence.

AFP/Eric Feferberg

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But a degree also softens her daily life. "The days spin twice as fast," says Christian. Like any trainee of the vocational training in Ile-de-France, it is compensated 2,26 euro / hour. "In prison, this is not negligible," he says. It is used to cantiner, pay tv, or the tobacco smokers, to do his 'cooking'." Above all, Christian is preparing his exit. Before his incarceration, he worked as a maintenance technician. "50 years ago, I will not be able to continue for a long time." Once outside, he sees himself continuing his training. "I want to learn to draw patterns. I spotted two courses in the Ile-de-France. I hope the job center will help me."

"They come out with a good level"

In a prison, the training places are expensive. 1500 inmates apply each year to Fleury-Mérogys, but only 278 were admitted this year. In the Ile-de-France, 1000 spots are open for a total of 14,000 detainees. A "board multidisciplinary" one meets every fifteen days to select the candidates. The management of the establishment sits on the side of the penitentiary services of insertion and probation, sometimes also psychologists, caregivers, chaplains. The criteria of selection? "Detainees who do not pose a security problem, with the sentences rather short and at the end of a sentence, in order for training to accompany the release, details Evelyne Le Cloirec, director of the Centre for young prisoners (CJD). We try to identify those that are most likely to go to the end of the process."

AFP/Eric Feferberg

José Luis Da Silva teaches the basics of painting. The walls of his workshop, a giant logo of the PSG meets marble in trompe l'oeil. He does not complain of its recruits. "The fact that they are prisoners does not change anything, the judge does it. In the batch, it happens that one of them is 'downgrade' [out of the device, ED.], but in four years, I've suffered as an insult. They come out with a good level. When I was a construction manager, some of my guys were not as talented as the ones here." The prison staff applauds also, for another reason. "The training soothes the detention. An inmate trained, this is a inmate more quiet than the one who spends 20 hours in a cell, leading Thierry Péré. Supervisor "career counsellor", he receives the training requests of the prisoners. All do not approach, far from it. "Some kids don't know what it is like to get up in the morning. They remain anchored in the crime. The advisors of integration work to bring to a project, but it is not so simple."

"His boss is ready to hire me"

At Fleury-Mérogis, around 70% of trainees leave their training diploma in your pocket. The success rate varies between 100% in industrial cleaning and 50% among the tailors. The evidence that "juries do not show any complacency", breath Thierry Péré. Once outside the walls, the former prisoners are returned to the anonymity of the common law. Impossible to know how many drop out of the work, how to take advantage of their new skills. The regional council of Ile-de-France, which manages the training professionnelle in prison since January, hope that the unemployed graduates in prison access as a priority to courses "outside" if they request it. "It is necessary to increase the Pôle emploi and the missions locales (local missions to that audience," says Pierre-Marie Atger, deputy director of the engineering training.

* the names of The detained individuals have been changed

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a Few happy stories date back to the ears of the trainers. Patrice Gazziero prepares prisoners in industrial cleaning. At the end of each session, he leaves them his number. "I know of the world in the business, he says. If someone seriously asks me for a helping hand to the exit, I do." He is proud to tell that a former prisoner that he had supported, has just been promoted to team leader. "One that comes out of it, he says, it is already a great victory." Joseph, 23 years, may be one of those. It poses an electrical installation in one of the workshops. "If everything goes well," he will leave Fleury on the eve of Christmas, without fear. In the parlor, " he says, his brother has announced a good news: "Her boss is ready to hire me."

* the names of The detained individuals have been changed