A prison in the city

A Prison in the City was ultimately taped in Cherbourg, where the prison ─an obscure fortress, but at least visible─ is also woven into the city’s fabric. Under a multi-layered surveillance system, the prisoners are watched by guards, and the institution itself, by the entire city.

Nowadays, prisons are largely isolated, and inner-city prisons are the exception. Cherbourg jail, which is still fully operational,is one of them. It is currently being renovated.

In the film, prisoners talk about how they perceive the city, and residents give their impressions of the prison. The film illustrates the spaces that prisoners and locals share and represents the connection between the two worlds,seeking out everything they have in common: the seagulls that soar over the city, the noise and smell of traffic, car horns, the slamming of doors, the shouts of children playing in the park, the songs of birds in the trees. The roofs of the buildings, visible from some of the cells, the streets, and the passers-by, remind us they share the same space.

Every Thursday, the market lends its own unique smells and sounds to the prisoners, making them feel as if they are still part of society as a whole. Society enters the prison bit by bit.

Inside, the recreation room’s two corner windows offer two different views of the city. One window faces a small children‘s playground – which has now been replaced by more parking – and two similar apartment buildings on the other side of the street. The other window faces the bay windows of the municipal library that reflect the street and the prison. The tinted glass reflects the silhouettes of those who are close by in the library. Since the filming, these bay windows have been covered over with a wooden lattice, which certainly must change the view from the prison classroom.

In A Prison in the City, one can view both the inside and outside worlds from the rare prison windows that face the city, to those of the opposite apartments. It is practically an opening, a breach in the wall that allows people to “look” at each other, in the real sense of the word: to give them back a body and a face and to have their say in the public space. In the city, prisoners maintain a tenuous relationship with the outside.

In Rouen, the first time I entered a prison – for a photography session - one of the participants told me she could see the window of the room where she used to live from the outside recreation area of the Bonne Nouvelle prison.

For many people, looking outside is a regular part of their day. Like a guard on duty, each person has a favourite lookout spot. The shortage of viewpoints makes them sacred, as they are the only direct and physical connection available to the outside world.

The closeness of the city is closely tied to the size of the buildings. In spite of the cramped and sometimes rundown conditions, old buildings provide a very different and humane approach from that of large prisons. As stated in the report of the Controller-General for Places of Deprivation of Liberty (Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté, CGLPL) visit to the Cherbourg prison in 2021: ”Concerning the staff, a flexible work arrangement allows guards to take on various duties, resulting in a greater familiarity with the prisoners and a more personal approach.”

The ancient walls are riddled with openings and cracks ideal for the misuse of space. The wide open hallways allow staff and prisoners alike to get an overall view of prison activities, and the interactions among prisoners are part of the daily routine. The uncomfortable and unclean old facilities allow, however, for a certain flexibility of daily living which prisoners are often attached to.

Being able to see the city provides prisoners with small, but precious, signposts: sights, sounds, and smells. Like the crumbs of outside life, the temporarily inaccessible society is still in sight for them. When these old prisons shut their doors, prisoners will lose a fragile anchor into the real world.

— Catherine Rechard.