RTL Group | Paris, 03/11/2019

Female Inmates Talk With Journalists

At the occasion of International Women’s Day, Fondation M6 invited eight female inmates to a discussion about the role of women in media, and, above all, about the role female inmates play. The foundation aims to make a contribution to the social rehabilitation of prisoners, which is often rather difficult for the – relatively few – female inmates.

Women represent less than four percent of the inmates in France – but problems repeatedly arise especially due to the fact that women are such a minority. This applies to both their time spent in prison as well as their social rehabilitation. The purpose of Fondation M6 is to facilitate their reintegration into society. At the occasion of International Women’s Day last Friday, the foundation of the French Groupe M6 brought together three journalists – two women and one man – and eight female inmates at the Versailles women’s prison. Along with Rennes, Versailles is one of only two prisons for women in France, and 2,534 women are currently serving time in the country. A majority of the eight participating inmates are editors of the prison magazine titled “Mafette”, which is operated by the educational center of the Maison d’Arrêt in Versailles. The subtitle of this magazine is “La Gazette des femmes (presque) libérées” (The magazine of the (almost) free women).

On Friday, Marie-Bénédicte Allaire (RTL Radio), Adrien Cadorel (M6), and Plana Radenovic (Journal du Dimanche) met with the inmates. Their discussion focused on the question about the place of women in general and of imprisoned women in media. The participants discussed the role of the media with regard to information communication, the right to forget and to be forgotten, the different ways of modern media usage, and their vision of journalism in the future. With this discussion panel, Fondation M6 highlighted a problem that may still be minor in terms of numbers but has been growing: the “only” 2,534 imprisoned women represent the highest number in ten years – with an upward trend. And, in addition to the two women’s prisons, France only has 13 other prisons that can take long-term female detainees. The social rehabilitation of the women becomes more difficult the further away the prisons are from their places of residence and families.