Context

The release of detainees held in Bellechasse was normally ordered in response to formal requests for conditional release. Such requests were reviewed by the prison directors and the authorities that had originally issued the detention order. While both the form and the content of the requests varied, the arguments put forth in them were generally similar in nature. An analysis of conditional release requests submitted by detainees in Fribourg to the Bellechasse administration during the 1920s and the 1970s makes it possible to identify the main lines of argument and the normative systems that played a determinant role in decisions on whether conditional release should be granted. In the 1920s, for example, a willingness to accept work assignments and to comply with the rules of conduct at the facility during the term of detention could positively influence decisions on whether to grant conditional release. In the 1970s, by contrast, the main factors taken into consideration tended to be the likelihood of a detainee’s finding employment on the outside and the stability of his or her family circumstances (see IEC volume 8). All such official requests were first reviewed by the director of the Bellechasse facilities, whose opinion played a decisive role in the final decisions on conditional release. While the majority of the detainees relied on these types of arguments and used the official channels when seeking conditional release, some made use of other alternatives. For female detainees, for example, a promise of marriage sometimes proved useful in obtaining authorisation to leave the facility (see IEC volume 4).

Analysis of the source

Sources of this kind – which are found in the official files of the Bellechasse facilities – express views on administrative detention that were held by contemporary witnesses not directly concerned by such measures: persons who were neither detainees themselves nor in any way involved in the issuing or execution of administrative detention orders. As such, these sources provide insight into the knowledge and opinions of common citizens on the use of this practice. They thus provide valuable information for understanding the degree to which contemporary witnesses were in favour of such practices and the way in which they were applied.

The source here in question is a letter from a lawyer practising in the canton of Vaud. In it he expresses his astonishment at the fact that a woman can be held in prison without having committed any criminal offence. This suggests that contemporary lawyers were not always aware that such measures were being used and that discovery of the fact could be met with incomprehension or even indignation.

Research questions

The letter was discovered in the personal file of a woman detainee at the Bellechasse facilities. It had probably been forwarded to the Bellechasse administration by the Department of Justice and Police of the Canton of Fribourg. Because the request for the woman's release is coupled with a marriage proposal, it suggests that marriage was considered as a possible alternative to detention for women. By comparing this request to those of a similar nature found in other detainee files, it is possible to draw conclusions as to how widespread this policy was, during which periods, and for which detainees.

In addition, when considered in the context of the entire file maintained on the woman in question, such letters also provide information as to the different actors involved in dealing with release requests and the reasons that motivated those actors to grant or deny permission to leave the facility.

L. Odier/Translation

Source

Letter written by a lawyer, who transmits to the Department of Justice and Police of the Canton of Fribourg a request on the part of one of his clients to marry a woman being held in detention at the Bellechasse facilities, 1938.

Signature: Archives d'État de Fribourg (AEF/StAF): Fonds Bellechasse, dossier A 2870.

Remarks

In order to protect the identity of the individuals concerned and of their friends and families, certain particulars have been redacted.