An inmate has been holding several people hostage since late morning. A doctor was released shortly before 3 p.m. RAID is on site.
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The hostage situation began around 11:15 a.m.
The man took refuge with his hostages, four people from the prison medical service, as well as a guard. He would be in possession of a bladed weapon.
A female doctor was reportedly released early this afternoon, while a RAID unit and other police services were on scene.
French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said that “all means” were mobilized.
The 37-year-old inmate has been incarcerated in Arles since 2023, for several acts of rape at gunpoint. He is also known for psychiatric disorders. The prisoner reportedly told the police that he wanted to change prison.
The Arles central prison, a prison created in 1991, with a capacity of nearly 160 places, accommodates prisoners sentenced to long sentences, often accompanied by security periods or presenting security risks. It is in this establishment that Corsican independence activist Yvan Colonna was assassinated, on March 2, 2022, by Franck Elong Abé, a radicalized inmate.
This prison, closed for six years, between 2003 and 2009, after being flooded during a flood of the Rhône, had also welcomed an inmate like Jean-Marc Rouillan, member of the far-left armed group Direct Action, of which he had was one of the co-founders.
