He says he is threatened with death, refuses to change buildings and attacks four guards at Béziers prison

This Thursday, November 28, in the afternoon, four guards at Béziers prison were injured by an 18-year-old inmate. The latter was arrested by the police, then taken into police custody. The origin of the violence would be due to the fact that the inmate categorically refused to leave the area arriving from Béziers prison even though he had just been assigned to a detention building. He would have advanced “that he was threatened with death by other detainees”to begin with. He violently hit a supervisor in the face and then all over his body. His colleague intervened very quickly but that did not stop the blows from raining down. Two other officers, including a woman, intervened to stop the brawl. They too were injured before managing to control him. He was placed in the disciplinary unit pending his arrest by the police. Four complaints were filed by the victims.

An open arcade and a rain of blows

The most seriously affected agent has an open arch. It took ten stitches to close the wound. He still suffers from blows to his nose and the rest of his body. The first colleague to intervene took numerous blows all over his body and had to follow a very strict protocol because of the blood splashed on his face. The other two personnel were struck, but less seriously affected. The officers who suffered the most blows were taken to the hospital emergency room by firefighters.

“It was a deliberate act”

“It was a deliberate act. assures David Parmentier, the secretary of the local section of the Ufap union. He attacked the guards to be placed in solitary confinement. He wasn't looking for anything else. We demand a strong sanction. He must be judged severely in immediate appearance for these deliberate attacks against people holding public authority. Once again, this attack, unfortunately, illustrates the daily life of prison staff where overcrowding and lack of staff create an explosive cocktail within our detention centers. This must stop and we must have more resources.”

He would have destroyed his cell

According to other information, concerning the detainee implicated in this violence, he broke everything in his cell in the arriving area. He had just been transferred from Seysses prison, not far from Toulouse. Around 12:30 p.m., he was overpowered and taken to a prevention cell, handcuffed. It was then that a guard who wanted to remove the handcuffs that the inmate unleashed. The reinforcements being unable to intervene due to a technical problem, they were blocked behind the access door to the disciplinary unit. “There was such an outbreak of violence that our colleagues had to equip themselves to remove the handcuffs”confides a representative of the Alliance Justice union. And to continue: “What was this dangerous inmate doing in Béziers, in the arriving district? Should he be assigned to the remand center despite all the reports from Seysses prison?” Here again, the union representative is asking for exemplary court decisions to protect the supervisors.