Latest news with #Cauwel
DW
4 hours ago
- DW
French man who escaped prison in cellmates' bag rearrested – DW – 07/14/2025
A prisoner escaped from a French jail after he fit himself into a bag carried out by his fellow inmate, who was released last week. Authorities have now arrested the escapee. 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.
NDTV
9 hours ago
- NDTV
France Prison Break: Inmate Hides In Cellmate's Laundry Bag, Escapes Jail
A prisoner hid himself in the laundry bag of his cellmate, who was being freed after serving his time in Corbas prison near the French city of Lyon, and escaped the jail premises. The escaped inmate was serving his sentence for multiple crimes, including suspected links to organised crime, according to a report by CNN. France prison administration director Sebastien Cauwel told BFMTV that the staff noticed on Saturday that the 20-year-old inmate was missing and admitted there had been negligence on their part. He said the man "took advantage" of his fellow inmate's release to escape from prison. Highlighting the prison's overcrowding, he said that it sometimes gets difficult for the staff to manage the inmates. The prison is designed to hold 678 inmates but currently houses around 1,200, 170 percent more than it was supposed to hold, he said. Mr Cauwel said, "This is an extremely rare event that we have never seen in this administration and which clearly shows a whole series of serious failures." He added that the prison launched an immediate internal investigation. Last year, a group of armed men attacked a prison convoy in Normandy, France, to help a prisoner escape. The incident led to the killing of two prison guards and left three others injured. According to France's Justice Minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, the incident took place while the inmate was being taken from court to a nearby prison. CNN obtained a video from the scene in which a black SUV was seen in flames that looked like it had crashed into the prison van near a toll booth on the highway. Later, the escaped prisoner, who was nicknamed The Fly, was caught again in Romania in February 2025, Reuters reported.
LeMonde
10 hours ago
- LeMonde
French prisoner who escaped in released cellmate's laundry bag arrested near Lyon
The story may be remembered as one of the most infamous prison escapes. On Friday, July 11, a 20-year-old inmate managed to escape from the Lyon-Corbas prison by hiding in the laundry bag of his cellmate, who had just been released. The public prosecutor's office announced that his brief escapade came to an end on Monday morning, when he was arrested in Sathonay-Camp, a nearby town in the Lyon metropolitan area. The young man currently in custody was arrested "at around 6 am, as he was leaving a cellar," the public prosecutor's office said in a statement. His cellmate "accomplice was not with him and has not yet been arrested." Prison staff noticed his absence on Saturday, according to information reported by French news channel BFMTV. Sébastien Cauwel, chief director of the national prison administration, said on BFMTV that "this is an extremely rare occurrence that reveals an entirely unacceptable series of failures." Cauwel specified that the escapee was the subject of an Interpol red notice. According to this international search request, Elyazid A., age 20, nicknamed "Joker" or "Equalizer," is 1.72 meters tall and originally from Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. He is being investigated for murder as part of an organized group and criminal conspiracy.
Indian Express
12 hours ago
- Indian Express
French prisoner, serving multiple sentences, escapes jail in cellmate's bag
A man, serving multiple jail sentences, escaped the prison in France by hiding in a bag belonging to his cellmate who was being released after finishing his sentence, an official said, adding that the search for the escaped man is still on. A CNN report quoting director of France's prison administration, Sébastien Cauwel, stated on Sunday that the man took advantage of the release of his cellmate to escape from the Corbas prison near Lyon, a city in France's southeast. Cauwel said that prison officials noted on Saturday that the man had escaped and informed that an investigation had been ordered while acknowledging an 'accumulation of errors'. Pointing out that Corbas prison is overcrowded, Cauwel said 'This is an extremely rare event that we have never seen in this administration and which clearly shows a whole series of serious failures,' CNN reported. The 20-year-old man, who escaped the prison, was serving multiple sentences and was under investigation in a case linked to organised crime. The prison officials believe he escaped the jail on Friday, allegedly in the bag of his inmate who was released. French media reported that a judicial investigation has been ordered into possible 'escape as part of an organised gang and criminal conspiracy.' In June, Lyon Bar Association had expressed concern about overcrowding at the Lyon-Corbas prison. A report by BFMTV stated that till May 2025, about 1,200 people have been detained in Corbas jail which has a capacity for 678 places. In 2024, another prisoner escaped the jail in France when he was being transported to prison and gunmen ambushed the convoy in the northern region of Normandy.
7NEWS
13 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Lyon: Man escapes prison in his cellmate's laundry bag, still at large
A man has escaped from a French prison, slipping past authorities by hiding in the luggage of his cellmate, who was being released at the end of his sentence. The unnamed 20-year-old is believed to have escaped a French prison on Friday, July 11, with prison officers only noticing his absence the following morning. Sebastien Cauwel, the director of France's prison administration, told local news outlet BFMTV that the prisoner 'took advantage' of his cellmate's release from Corbas Prison in Lyon, France. One of the escapee's cellmates was being released from prison, and the prisoner concealed himself inside their laundry bag to free himself from confinement. The man, who is still at large, is serving multiple sentences and is also undergoing investigation for links to organised crime. 'This is an extremely rare event that we have never experienced in this administration and which clearly reveals a whole series of serious dysfunctions,' Mr Cauwel said. Mr Cauwel has requested an internal investigation and said the 'Minister of Justice has ordered an inspection by the General Inspectorate of Justice'. He said the Corbas Prison has an occupancy rate of 170 per cent, and said this 'makes working conditions more difficult for our staff'. BFMTV reported that 1200 people were detained in the prison as of May 2025, which is over 500 people more than its capacity of 678. The BBC reported that the Lyon Bar Association has expressed alarm about 'overcrowding' in the prison. This follows reports of another French escapee, Mohamed Amra, known as 'The Fly', which sparked a manhunt before he was recaptured in Romania in February this year. Amra had been freed in a violent attack which resulted in the deaths of two prison guards.
