Another escape in French prisons/ Two people leave their cells with sheets

2025-11-27 20:33:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Two inmates at a French prison cut through the bars of their cell and escaped using sheets during the night, a prosecutor said Thursday, in the second such incident in recent weeks. Guards noticed they had escaped from the prison in the eastern city of Dijon just before dawn, the prison service said, without adding exactly how they did it.

The pair "appeared to have cut the bars" and "escaped using sheets," said Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch, without giving further details on exactly how they did this.

The escapees are a 19-year-old held in custody since October 2024 for attempted murder in a drug-related case, and a 32-year-old imprisoned since 2023 for threats and violence against a partner, Caracotch said. The prison escape comes 10 days after another escape in the western city of Rennes.

A 37-year-old convict, who was supposed to serve his sentence until early 2027 for theft, ran away during a walk with other inmates at the city's planetarium. It was not immediately clear whether he had been caught.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has fired the prison director. Three prison directors' unions have sharply criticized the right-wing minister, who is implementing a plan to imprison the most dangerous drug traffickers in supermax prisons.

They accused him of "dedicating all the resources of a debt-ridden state" to high-security prisons for those accused of drug trafficking and jihadist attacks, and neglecting the "vast majority" of other prisons.

"While the justice minister parades through overfunded facilities, other (prison) services are suffering," they said in a joint statement.

France has one of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe, ranking third worst after Slovenia and Cyprus, according to a Council of Europe report published in July. At the beginning of October, they housed 135 prisoners for every 100 available places.

Notorious French drug lord Mohamed Amra, known as "The Fly", was transferred to a new supermax prison in northern France in July. Amra made headlines when he escaped in May 2024 on a highway toll from a prison van, following an attack by suspected accomplices in which two prison guards were killed. He was captured in Romania and extradited to France after a months-long manhunt./ CNA, translated by France 24