the hostage taker surrendered, no injuries among those held

The inmate who had taken several members of the staff of Arles prison, in Bouches-du-Rhône, hostage in the morning, surrendered in the afternoon without causing any injuries, we learned. Le Figaro with the Bouches-du-Rhône police headquarters.

According to prefect Pierre-Édouard Colliex, the hostage-taking began around 10:45 a.m. According to a prison union source at Figarothis took place within the prison health unit. It concerned a young psychiatrist and mother, three nurses and a prison officer. The detainee held them back using a weapon he had made with “metal picks” according to the police chief. “We favored negotiation with the person concerned”he explains.

The Raid was dispatched to the scene around 12:30 p.m. “After quite long and quite complicated negotiations”the hostage taker agreed to release the psychiatrist around 3 p.m. Then, according to a press release from the Ministry of Justice, the Raid took place around 3:30 p.m., allowing the release of the last four hostages and the arrest of the detainee. Although they were not injured, they received psychological support.

A “very dangerous” inmate

The perpetrator of the hostage taking, aged 37 and born in Guyana, is a detainee “very dangerous” according to Pierre-Édouard Colliex. “He is known for acts of violence, particularly in detention”specifies the police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône. As detailed by the Tarascon public prosecutor, Laurent Gumbau, he was sentenced on appeal to 18 years in prison by an assize court for acts of rape at gunpoint. He was eligible for release in 2031. He had also been the subject of convictions for “other related crimes”according to Laurent Gumbau. He had previously been convicted several times for various acts of violence.

The motive for this hostage-taking remains unclear. In front of the press, Pierre-Édouard Colliex spoke of an individual who “fairly inconsistent” who would have “expressed his wish to leave prison”. For his part, the Tarascon public prosecutor indicated that the hostage taker “wished to change establishment”without however having made the official request. He had been detained in Arles prison since November 2023.

The inmate “did not present, at this stage, a psychiatric profile” according to Laurent Gumbau, but was the subject of medical support “in the context of the troubles encountered by prisoners serving long sentences.” According to another prison source, cited by AFP, the man does not present “not a terrorist profile”. On X, the Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin wanted to thank the prison administration teams and the Raid police officers for their intervention.