It was at Arles prison that the events took place when an inmate detained four members of the prison's medical staff as well as a guard today, Friday January 3, 2025, for five long hours. This is what was reported by France Télévision.
The same source added that the detainee ended up surrendering in the middle of the afternoon, after five hours of negotiations, without causing any injuries. In a publication on the X platform, the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin confirmed the release of the prisoners by thanking “the prison administration teams and the Raid police officers for their intervention”,
According to France Télévision, the inmate is 37 years old and he still has six years left on his sentence where he would be released in 2031. He would, adds the same source, be known for psychiatric problems. The man in question, it is said, is incarcerated for rape at gunpoint. “During the crime, he was in possession of homemade picks that he had made for himself,” declared the Bouches-du-Rhône police prefect, Pierre-Edouard Colliex, at a press briefing at the end. of the hostage-taking, reports the same source, specifying that the detainee was known “for acts of violence in detention”.
On the other hand, he was “not considered an Islamic radical”, nor was he particularly monitored, a prison source said. At the time of the hostage-taking, the detainee was in the infirmary after suffering a hand injury during a fight. He had an “incoherent attitude, but expressed the wish to leave prison,” said the police chief.
The detainee is called Irwing S. at the origin of the hostage-taking is 37 years old, he is of French nationality, and could be of Muslim religion according to the rumors circulating. In 2013, he was classified as “radicalized” by the French authorities. He allegedly took these people hostage following his discontent after the refusal of his transfer to another detention center.
*Photo of the entrance to the central house of Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), March 2, 2022. Credit (PASCAL GUYOT / AFP)
