Strategies, tricks and dissembling in the “radicalization assessment units” (RAU) – France

“Radicalization Assessment Units” (RAU) are the cornerstone for radicalized prisoner management in French prisons. During 17-week sessions, a dozen prisoners are assigned to a RAU for evaluation, before being directed to other places of detention according to the resulting recommendations. This paper analyzes the secondary adaptations of prisoners in these units, based on interviews with prisoners undergoing assessment. Firstly, we detail the daily tactics of adaptation to the unit’s security apparatus, characterized by its high degree of constraints, its reinforced surveillance system and the intertwining of intelligence activities with the daily functioning of the RAU; these tactics can also take a “strategic” turn, particularly when external geopolitical conflicts get imported into detention. In a second step, we examine the prisoners’ adaptations to the assessment process itself. Refusals to participate in the assessment are as rare as forms of “enrollment,” and these adaptations can best be described as forms of “tactical compliance”, in which the prisoners, in a constant effort of self-control, attempt to avoid missteps, and to anticipate and react to questions and observations made of them.