Normandy: how this area actually works
Rouen is the regional capital, and its maison d'arrêt feeds Seine-Maritime courts, including a share of Le Havre's gravity. It is not the port terminal and not the cathedral. Caen serves Calvados. Évreux and Val-de-Reuil sit in the Eure, closer to Paris in rail time than to Cherbourg, and families mix them up constantly. Val-de-Reuil takes a large sentenced population. Cherbourg is a Cotentin end-of-the-line. Ouistreham's ferries are not a Caen gate. The old split between Upper and Lower Normandy is one région now, and still several days of travel.
A prévenu in Rouen or Caen may need the juge d'instruction. A person sent to Val-de-Reuil as a condamné needs that house's permis de visite, not the Rouen local's. The DAP can move someone from a Seine-Maritime remand to the Eure, or out of Normandy toward Île-de-France. Channel weather is not a legal excuse. British relatives landing at Caen or Cherbourg follow the same French permit rules as anyone else. Evreux and Cherbourg are not a Rouen afternoon. Dieppe is a port, not the maison d'arret. Orne is inland too.
This page groups prisons recorded as Normandy. It does not list people in Rouen, Caen, Évreux or Val-de-Reuil. GENESIS is internal. Read justice.gouv.fr and the notice. Do not copy a Paris parloir time onto a Cotentin address, and do not assume Le Havre's docks are the maison. Val-de-Reuil, Caen, Evreux and Cherbourg are four other addresses. Ouistreham's ferry is not a gate. Le Havre, Dieppe and Caen are three more plans on top of Rouen. Manche and Calvados are not the same day as the Eure. Remember that split carefully.
Finding someone held in Normandy
Normandy publishes no roll for Rouen, Caen, Cherbourg, Évreux or Val-de-Reuil. Ask the lawyer or the greffe. justice.gouv.fr is the family explanation, not a name search. GENESIS stays inside the DAP. A court morning in Rouen may still be police custody. Do not phone the maison and expect a name. A ferry rumour from Portsmouth is not a placement. Rouen and Caen will not read names to a caller. Val-de-Reuil will not either. Cherbourg will not either. Ask the Rouen greffe.
Rouen is not Caen, and Val-de-Reuil is not Évreux just because both are in the Eure. Cherbourg is not Ouistreham. If the letter names Fleury-Mérogis or a Breton house, you have left Normandy. The permis must match the établissement, especially when a sentenced move from Rouen to Val-de-Reuil has already happened. Cherbourg is the Cotentin, not the Eure. Le Havre is Seine-Maritime, not a Caen booking. Evreux looks toward Paris and is still this region. Confirm the letter in writing.
Visits and family practicalities
Each Norman house issues its own permission on the national permis rules. Remand can require the juge d'instruction. Val-de-Reuil's sentenced visits are not a Rouen local slot. This page does not invent hours. Read the notice before you leave Saint-Lazare.
Bring the identification required. Phones stay outside. A ferry delay into Ouistreham will not move a Caen parloir. If the person transferred to the Eure overnight, the Rouen plan fails. Re-check before you buy the train to Rouen-Rive-Droite or Caen.
Getting around Normandy
Rouen-Rive-Droite from Paris Saint-Lazare, and Caen from Paris, are the usual rails. Val-de-Reuil has a station and still a last-mile walk or bus that visitors underestimate. Le Havre is a port branch. Cherbourg is a long Cotentin ride. Évreux is a separate Eure line, not the Rouen cathedral stop.
Drivers on the A13 and A28 should leave slack after the exit. Parking at the city maisons is poor. British arrivals via Ouistreham or Cherbourg still need French ground transport to the named gate. Use the official address. Do not finish at the D-Day beaches or at Le Havre's terminal.