An inmate from the Arles central prison took several people hostage on Friday January 3. The man, with an unstable psychiatric profile, has been incarcerated there since 2015.
An inmate took several people hostage from the Arles central prison this Friday, January 3, in the morning. He was in possession of a bladed weapon, several corroborating sources indicate to BFMTV. The man first freed one of the hostages before surrendering in the afternoon, after five hours of negotiations.
Originally from Guyana, the detainee is 37 years old and has been incarcerated since 2015 for rape at gunpoint. He was to be released from 2031, BFMTV learned from reliable sources.
Before that, he had already been convicted “several times” for acts of violence or theft aggravated by acts of violence, said Laurent Gumbau, public prosecutor of Tarascon, during a press briefing.
An “unstable” profile?
The man had taken five people hostage: a prison guard, three nurses and a doctor. He was in a health unit of the prison. Numerous intervention teams were mobilized on site, including the Raid and a local prison security team.
If he was initially presented as a detainee with an unstable psychiatric profile, the public prosecutor emphasizes that there do not seem to have been “psychotic elements” surrounding this hostage-taking.
However, a psychiatric assessment will have to take place in the coming hours, the detainee having been placed in police custody for a maximum period of 48 hours.
“He wanted to get out of prison”
According to the public prosecutor of Tarascon and Pierre-Édouard Colliex, police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, the inmate’s desire to change penitentiary establishment seems to be at the origin of this hostage-taking. He wanted to “get out of prison”, specifies the police chief.
The public prosecutor adds, however, that although this appears to be the “determining motive”, the latter must still be confirmed during police custody.
Located north of Arles, the central house has 159 places and is occupied at a rate of 85%, including 137 prisoners serving long sentences. This hostage taking occurs the day after Gérald Darmanin’s visit to Marseille and the Baumettes prison.
Boris Kharlamoff with Laurène Rocheteau
