For five hours a prisoner in the central prison in Arles held 5 then 4 people under threat of a knife, medical staff and a supervisor. It took the intervention of the Eris and the Raid for him to surrender after 5 hours of negotiations.
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“Our priority from the start has been the safety of the hostages.” assert Pierre-Edouard Colliex, the Bouches-du-Rhône police prefect, following the hostage-taking, in a press conference in front of the gates of the Arles central house, this Friday, January 3.
For 5 hours, an inmate sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for rape, known for repeated acts of violence within the prison, held 5 people: a psychiatrist, three nurses and a guard. The doctor was released two hours earlier. ” This psychiatrist, mother, I met her, she is doing well. Like all the hostages. No one is hurt. But five hours is a long time. Everyone was very courageous“, specified the prefect.
France 3 Provence-Alpes takes stock of the profile of the individual and the context of this hostage-taking which ended well, but which required the intervention of the RAID specialized in negotiation with the hostage-takers, the Eris (special prison intervention forces) having not succeeded alone.
18 years of sentence to be served, in Arles since 2023
The detainee is not French, but comes from the kingdom of Guyana, between French Guiana and Brazil. Aged 37, he has been in prison since 2015 and has been in several establishments. He has been in Arles since 2023. During his hostage taking, he made the request to change prison. “But no official request has been made to the prison administration to date”it's only verbal, says Laurent Gumbau, public prosecutor of Tarascon. In a press release, the Ministry of Justice indicates that “movements within the establishment were blocked and national and local crisis units were triggered“.
He is serving a long 18-year sentence for rape at gunpoint.”At this stage, he has no psychiatric profile, he does not present psychosis, no psychotic elements“. On the other hand, the detainee of Guyanese nationality “fwas the subject of monitoring and medical support in the context of various disorders that may arise during detention“, indicates the prosecutor.
Placed in police custody, the individual will be referred to the Tarascon public prosecutor's office on Saturday, the criminal consequences will then be communicated.
A “manufactured” weapon
Among the questions to be answered by the investigation: how was this individual recognized as unstable and dangerous able to obtain a bladed weapon within the establishment? According to the first elements communicated by the prosecutor, the weapon is “homemade”, manufactured “by hand”. It is not a knife, but iron “handmade picks” that he took out in the prison care unit. But where did he find it? Could he have designed it himself?
“It will be necessary to determine how he manufactured and acquired his weapon. We are counting on the testimony of the victims who are currently being treated medically and on video surveillance.“. The investigation is entrusted to the banditry brigade of the Marseille judicial police.