In some situations you have to submit your complaint to special institutions created for dealing with a specific type of claim, such as the investigation of crimes or the assessment of the quality of medical care.
Generally, you have to submit your complaint to a specific body, when the prison administration would not be considered sufficiently qualified or independent to review your complaint, and when there are other institutions created for the examination of such types of claims.
The most common exceptions to the general procedure are:
If you believe that a crime has been committed against you by a fellow inmate, you should alert the prison staff or the head of the prison. They should as soon as possible pass that information on further to the public prosecutor. If you wish to file a complaint on your own, you can write to the public prosecutor, or contact the nearest police or gendarmerie station or judicial authorities (judge, courts etc.) who will forward it to the prosecutor.
If you have been involved in a violent conflict with prison staff, the procedure is the same, you should alert someone from the prison staff that you trust, or you can write to the head of prison. You can also file a complaint directly to the prosecutor.
You should keep in mind that the prison staff is allowed to use force against you in special circumstances, for example in legitimate self-defense. Read more about the use of force by prison staff.
If another inmate commits a crime against you and you believe that the crime has not been investigated properly by the judiciary authorities – e.g. criminal proceedings have not been initiated, when they should have been, or the investigation is ineffective or inappropriate –you should complain about this to the prosecutor.
If the public prosecutor refuses to initiate criminal proceedings, you can appeal this decision to the Attorney General. You can also file a complaint with civil party status if you wish to “force” the opening of a criminal investigation. You will have to pay a deposit for this action, but you may receive legal aid if you do not have a sufficient income to pay for it.
If you do not know which prosecutor to write to, you can simply address your complaint to the prosecution in general. Your complaint will be forwarded to the relevant official within the prosecution.
If you believe that the medical care provided to you was insufficient or inappropriate, or the doctor did not fulfil his/her obligations properly, you should first write to the doctor responsible of the prison medical unit, then to the director of the hospital affiliated to your prison. If these complaints do not work, you can then write to public health inspector of the regional health authority and finally to the Health minister.
You can also submit a complaint to the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Inspection Générale des Affaires Sociales). This service ensures that the measures necessary to maintain the health of prisoners are respected. According to the law you are allowed to write in full confidentiality to this authority and report any rule violation related to health care and sanitary measures.
You can further appeal the decision of these authorities to the Administrative Court.
If you are employed in prison either by a state institution or a private employer, all disputes related to employment are to be resolved before the Administrative Court, according to the procedure set out in the Code of Administrative Justice.
If your salary is lower than the one set out in the Penitentiary Code, you can complain to the head of prison and to the interregional director of prison services. You can also appeal directly to the Administrative Court with a special appeal called “le référé-provision” by which you can claim for compensation.
The Labour Inspectorate can visit prisons to control the working conditions, but only for matters related to safety and hygiene. You can write to the local authority of the Labour Inspectorate to report any safety or health problems in the workplace and request an intervention. However, the Labour Inspectorate is not among the authorities to which you can write in a sealed envelope, therefore the letter you send may be read by the prison administration. But if the Labour Inspectorate visits your prison, you are allowed to talk with them privately, in your cell for example. The Labour Inspectorate does not have the right to impose sanctions on the prison administration or to stop your work activity, they can only write a report that mentions the measures to be taken.
If you receive bad quality food (for example, expired products or an inappropriately prepared meal etc.) or the portions are too small, you should first complain to the prison staff and head of the prison.
If the head of the prison cannot or does not solve the problem, you can complain further to the interregional director of prison services. You can also complain to the doctor responsible of the prison medical unit, who is entitled to visit all the premises of the prison, including the kitchen.
The external authority responsible for controlling food hygiene and quality is the Departmental Directorate for protection of the population (Direction Départementale de la Protection des Populations). The General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Inspection Générale des affaires sociales) and the Regional Health Agencies (agences régionale de santé) can also monitor food hygiene through visits and investigations. You can contact all these services if you believe that they should visit the prison you are in. These authorities will have to carry out an examination of the quality of the food you receive and establish whether it is appropriate or not. If necessary, they can order the prison to ensure that the food given to you is of an appropriate quality.