An inmate took five people hostage at the end of the morning in the health unit of the Arles central house. The man is 37 years old and is incarcerated for rape at gunpoint. One of them was released. It is in this prison that Franck Elong Abé caused the death of Yvan Colonna, in March 2022, following a violent attack.
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The man, who is armed with a homemade pike, took four nurses and a prison guard hostage this Friday, January 3, 2025 at 11:15 a.m. One of them has since been released, France Télévisions learned from a judicial source.
The inmate, who is 37 years old, would ask to change penitentiary center. He is known for “significant psychiatric disorders”. The prison administration informed AFP that he did not present “a terrorist profile”.
In 2022, following the fatal attack of which Yvan Colonna was the victim in the same central house, a report from the general inspection of justice was commissioned, which highlighted several security breaches, including which “a lack of vigilance, and poor use of video surveillance”.
But for now, we are completely unaware of the circumstances in which this hostage taking took place, and there is no indication that a possible security lapse could have facilitated it in any way.
