Since the end of the morning, the central house of Arles, located in the northern industrial zone of the town, a few kilometers from the center, is the scene of a hostage-taking. Holed up in the establishment’s infirmary for several hours, the inmate held 5 people under threat of a homemade bladed weapon. One of them, a psychiatrist, was released around 3 p.m. The other people detained were medical staff and a prison guard.
The detainee finally surrendered and no injuries were reported.
The Bouches-du-Rhône police prefect, Pierre-Édouard Colliex and the public prosecutor are on site.
Very unfavorably known to law enforcement
Aged 37, this detainee, known very unfavorably to the police and the justice system for numerous common law offenses, had been sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for sexual offenses and had, moreover, been reported to have been radicalized. in 2013. The hostage-taking would not, however, be based on jihadist motives, but on the discontent of the thirty-year-old following the refusal of his transfer.
Several police forces were positioned around the prison. The regional intervention and security teams were created in 2003 to strengthen the security of prison establishments and improve the response capacity and responsiveness of the prison administration in the event of serious disturbances. The Raid was also activated by the Bouches-du-Rhône police prefect.
With 159 places and 137 inmates serving long sentences there, the central Arlesian house, built in the early 1990s, is not a penitentiary establishment where we suffer from this prison overcrowding which sometimes hits the headlines. The occupancy rate there is in fact 85%.
“A growing number of individuals suffering from serious psychiatric problems”
Last October, however, the FO Justice union was worried “the situation of the Arles central prison, in particular with regard to the safety of agents, the care of detainees, and the effectiveness of the systems in place“, and also raised the question of “evolving profile of prisoners, with an increasing number of individuals suffering from serious psychiatric problems“.
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