Conference on “Suicide Prevention in Prisons”

March 31, 2017, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
School of Law and Political Science, Lecture Hall 001, Building 2, 2 Cardinal de Cabrières Street
No one can deny the reality of suicide among inmates in the prison system. Faced with this reality, the prison administration launched a proactive policy to prevent suicide in detention as early as 1967. This effort led to the implementation of a major national action plan for the prevention of suicide among inmates in 2009 and the creation in 2010 of the Mission for the Prevention and Fight Against Suicide, tasked with overseeing the suicide prevention system in prisons. It is within this framework, in particular, that several facilities have since been conducting pilot programs involving inmate peer support.
In order to consider the development and implementation of preventive measures—both in theory and in practice—it is necessary to engage in a dialogue that brings together diverse perspectives. This is the very purpose of the conference organized by Professor Marie-Christine Sordino, Director of the Montpellier Criminal Law Research Group (EDPM-UMR 5815).
This conference will bring together two key figures who are deeply involved in issues related to suicide in detention, both theoretically and practically: Mr. Loïc Parayre, Deputy Director of the Tarascon Detention Center, and Dr. Stéphane Bonnet, a psychiatrist with CRIAVS-LR-CHRU in Montpellier, at the Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone Detention Center.