French man who escaped prison in cellmates' bag rearrested – DW – 07/14/2025
A man who escaped from a French prison last week was recaptured early Monday morning, according to France's public prosecutor.
The man, reportedly 20 years old, escaped by climbing into a bag that had been carried out by his fellow inmate, who was released last week.
The 20-year-old escaped from Lyon-Corbas prison in southeast France and was recaptured after a widespread investigation into the matter.
According to French television channel BFMTV, the escapee was arrested at around 6 a.m. local time )0400 UTC/GMT), as he left the cellar in Sathonay-Camp, a commune or the smallest administrative division, in southern France.
The prosecutor's office said in the statement that his accomplice had not been found or arrested yet, noting nobody had been injured during the operation this morning.
Local media reported that the escapee was serving at least two prison sentences and was under investigation for organized crime.
According to newspaper, the man who was set to be released asked prison staff for a trolley to carry bags out of the prison to his car.
The inmate, according to the report, escaped in a large laundry bag that was among the belongings carried out.
Sebastien Cauwel, the director of France's prison administration, told BFMTV last week that the escape was an extremely rare occurrence.
"This is an extremely rare event that we have never experienced in this administration and which clearly reveals a whole series of serious dysfunctions," he said Saturday.
Cauwel said he launched an internal investigation as soon as he was aware of the situation, which came to light 24 hours after the man escaped.
"This facility has an occupancy rate of 170%. This clearly makes working conditions more difficult for our staff," Cauwel noted.
"What this incident reveals is rather an accumulation of material errors, possibly faults, which the investigation will bring to light," he said.
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