Published on 03/01/2025 20:20
Reading time: 1min – video: 2min
After being taken hostage by an inmate, Friday January 3, five members of staff at Arles prison (Bouches-du-Rhône) were finally released after five hours. The investigation was entrusted to the banditry suppression brigade in Marseille.
Behind the walls of Arles prison (Bouches-du-Rhône), the hostage-taking lasted nearly five hours. Everything happened in the health unit of the establishment. Shortly before 11 a.m., Friday January 3, an inmate held five people there, a guard, a psychiatrist and three nurses. The man demands his transfer and is armed with metal spikes. “The second most important aspect of the hours to come in the course of the investigation is to determine what homemade weapon he acquired, and how he was able to get hold of it”said Laurent Gumbau, prosecutor of the Republic in Tarascon.
Called in for reinforcement, the men of the Raid are ready to intervene. But the long work of the negotiators is paying off. The inmate finally freed the hostages around 3:30 p.m., all safe. “We favored negotiation with the person concerned”underlines Pierre-Edouard Colliex, police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône. The detainee is a 37-year-old man from Guyana, sentenced to 18 years in prison for rape at gunpoint. He had been incarcerated in Arles for a little over a year and could be released in 2031. He was placed in police custody. The investigation was entrusted to the banditry suppression brigade in Marseille.
Watch the full report in the video above.