Five people taken hostage in Arles prison

A hostage-taking at the Arles penitentiary center. An inmate equipped with a homemade pick and known for “significant psychiatric disorders” is currently holding, this Friday, January 3, four nursing staff and a prison guard, several sources reported to AFP. The man does not present “not a terrorist profile”according to a prison source. The inmate was eligible for release in 2031, said the source close to the case.

The hostage taking began around 11:15 a.m. in the health unit of the central house in Arles, according to a prison source. “The situation remains calm,” says a source close to the matter. The 37-year-old man was incarcerated for rape at gunpoint. He says he wants to “change prison centers”, according to the same source. Several intervention forces, including the Raid, were deployed on site.

“Mobilized teams” on site

“We have mobilized all means” to put an end to the hostage-taking, the minister indicated on
of Justice Gérald Darmanin, saying he follows “in real time the evolution of the situation”. “We are in constant contact with the mobilized teams and we are closely monitoring the situation. All means are implemented »assured Catherine Vautrin, the Minister of Labor.

Two and a half years earlier, within the confines of this same prison, an inter-union blockade movement had been launched. The announcement by the Prime Minister at the time, Élisabeth Borne, of “triggering of disciplinary procedures” against the former director of this penitentiary center, Corinne Puglierini, and a supervisor had ignited the powder.

Both were accused of “failures” by the report of the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) concerning the death in detention of Yvan Colonna in March 2022, a Corsican independence activist convicted of the murder of prefect Erignac.