The day after the hostage-taking at Arles prison on Friday January 3, the custody of the inmate responsible for the acts was suspended to hospitalize him in a psychiatric unit.
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After being taken hostage by an inmate, Friday January 3, five members of staff at Arles prison (Bouches-du-Rhône) were finally released after five hours of negotiations, thanks to the intervention of the Raid and special Eris units.
The hostage taker had been placed in police custody before being hospitalized on Saturday January 4, a psychiatric expert having concluded that his treatment by a psychiatric unit was necessary, according to a press release from the Tarascon prosecutor, addressed to the ‘AFP.
The expert psychiatrist noted “a decompensation of personality disorders having the effect of making him dangerous for himself or for others” and recommended “constrained hospitalization in a specialized environment“, specifies the prosecutor of the Republic of Tarascon, Laurent Gumbau.
This 37-year-old Guyanese national took four medical staff and a prison guard hostage for five hours on Friday, in the care unit of the Arles central prison where he sequestered them under threat of a homemade weapon , before surrendering without causing any injuries. His “motive” seemed to be to change establishments, but “iThere was no specific, written request, as prisoners can make to the prison administration“, the Tarascon prosecutor emphasized on Friday.
The custody of this inmate, who was serving an 18-year prison sentence at Arles central prison for rape at gunpoint, was lifted at 6:30 p.m., the magistrate said, “and complete admission without consent implemented (…) at the specialized hospital center of Montfavet“(Vaucluse).
“He could ultimately be treated at the beginning of next week in the specially designed hospital unit (UHSA) in Marseille.“, adds Laurent Gumbau, while specifying that
as soon as his health status “will be sufficiently stabilized, he will be interviewed again as part of a resumption of the police custody measure“.
Several sources highlighted on Friday the psychiatric disorders of the detainee, described as “unstable”, without any pathology being formally established.
The police prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, Pierre-Edouard Colliex, had described this man, known “for acts of violence, particularly in detention“, of “very dangerous“, greeting a way out”without use of force“, at the end of a “fairly long and complicated negotiation“.
