Inmates in the new drug trafficking section of Vendin-le-Vieil prison (Pas-de-Calais) deliberately flooded their cells overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, causing water to overflow into corridors, according to the prison administration and two union sources.

On Thursday around 12:30 a.m., "three out of four corridors" of building no. 2 of the new anti-organized crime unit (QLCO) in Vendin "were deliberately flooded by inmates," according to a statement from the Ufap prison union sent to AFP.

"The officers had to use a squeegee to clean up (...). The officers are there to ensure security and surveillance, not to clean up the excesses of individuals who indulge in provocation and degradation," denounces the UFAP.

The union is demanding "a firm response and disciplinary action" against the inmates responsible for these "acts of rebellion" and measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The identified perpetrators "will soon be summoned to a disciplinary committee" and sanctions, "including placement in a disciplinary cell," may be imposed, the prison administration told AFP. Judicial authorities have also been notified.

It was the work of "five or six prisoners, no more," according to a source close to the case.

For David Lacroix, of the FO Penitentiary union in Vendin-le-Vieil, and a local representative of the UFAP who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, this is the most notable incident since the installation of the QLCO in Vendin-le-Vieil, which accommodates 88 prisoners who arrived between the end of July and the beginning of August.

Several dozen of them are contesting their transfer and their conditions of detention in Vendin-le-Vieil before the administrative courts or judges of liberties and detention, in vain so far.

The flood was "clearly intended to disturb us," because "they realize that their various appeals are not succeeding, that the media hype of their lawyers is not taking hold either" among public opinion, "which does not feel sorry for them," believes Mr. Lacroix.

Several QLCO inmates are also threatening to begin a collective hunger strike starting Monday, according to Mr. Lacroix and the UFAP representative.