Culture and Justice
Culture holds a fundamental place in the management of persons placed under the control of justice. The Ministry of Culture, in all its variations (central administration, regional cultural affairs directorates, public institutions and services with national competence) Is highly engaged in providing those placed in custody with the same range of offers and opportunities as outside.
Interdepartmental policy at national level
The historic partnership between the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice has been formalized by four protocols.
For the Ministry of Culture, this policy is carried out by the Office of Interdepartmental Policy within the General Delegation for Transmission, Territories and Cultural Democracy. For the Ministry of Justice, it is carried out by the Directorate of Penitentiary Administration (DAP) and the Directorate of Youth Judicial Protection (DPJJ).
These three directions focus on defining, implementing and evaluating the actions developed in the territory. To this end:
- They ensure the formalisation of texts, protocols, framework conventions, and organise national symposia and thematic seminars;
- They shall ensure that the cultural actions proposed for dissemination and artistic practice are of equal quality to the external cultural offer, in appropriate premises, while taking into account the constraints of the prison environment;
- They encourage the registration of persons placed under the control of the courts as beneficiaries of the measures of common law (for example by encouraging partnerships between penitentiaries and municipal or departmental libraries);
- They promote synergy between all actors working with the public in hand of justice (teachers, trainers, artists and cultural stakeholders...);
- They participate in the production of tools (A Practical Guide to Cultural and Artistic Actions in Correctional Settings and Inmate Library Guide, catalogue accessibility «Images of culture» etc.);
- They ensure the communication of these cultural activities, both within the institutions of the Ministry of Justice and outside, with a view to promoting and raising public awareness;
- They encourage the establishment of training for the entire chain of staff in cultural issues in all its components as well as the awareness of cultural actors to the specificities of the prison environment;
- In the field of training offered to persons placed under the control of justice, they encourage the consideration of professions related to culture (book and reading, cinema and audiovisual, performing arts, crafts of art or heritage...);
- Finally, in the area of prison work, they encourage the development of technical activities related to cultural professions (bookbinding, printing, digitization of sound and image, crafts, heritage restoration...).
Interdepartmental policy at regional level
The inter-ministerial culture/justice protocol is divided into regional agreements between the decentralized departments of the two ministries.
- The Directorate of Penitentiary Administration (DAP) has nine interregional Directorates of Penitentiary Services (DISP). Each DISP is represented at the departmental level by the Services penitentiaires d'insertion et de probation (SPIP).
- The Directorate for Youth Judicial Protection also has nine Interregional Directorates for Youth Judicial Protection (DIRPJJ). It also has a departmental representation, the DTPJJ (Directions territoriales de la protection judiciaire de la jeunesse).
- The Ministry of Culture has 21 decentralized departments (Regional Cultural Affairs Directorates, Directorates and Missions for Cultural Affairs) and has no departmental branch.
The cultural projects carried out within the institutions and structures of the Ministry of Justice are financed from the decentralized appropriations of the two administrations via the annual calls for projects «Culture/Justice».
The calendars for each region and the approach and contacts are available on the next link.
The projects can be subscribed by other ministerial appropriations (City Policy, National Agency for Social Cohesion – ACSE) or European programmes (European Social Fund, Grundwig, Culture 2000...) They are often supported, directly or indirectly, by local authorities.
For the record, libraries are municipal or departmental structures, and cultural institutions, such as national stages, national drama centres, national choreographic centres, the conventional and contemporary music stages... and many festivals, are largely supported by local authorities.
The general councils, which are responsible for social action, are, for some, already involved in partnership actions with the prison environment, either through the integration policy, or indirectly through their support of cultural structures for which they are responsible (archives, departmental lending libraries...).
Are you a culture or justice professional and would you like to invest in the implementation of cultural projects for people placed under justice or would you like to obtain information about the Culture/Justice partnership?
Do not hesitate to contact the person in charge of this file: Charlotte Grondin (01 40 15 86 72 – 07 60 75 18 04 - charlotte.grondin@culture.gouv.fr
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