One was convicted of drug charges, the other of sexual assault. They are still on the run.
They claimed a pressing desire. Two inmates from the Fleury-Mérogis remand center (Essonne) escaped on Tuesday, September 12, during a hike in the Fontainebleau forest (Seine-et-Marne). One of the two fugitives, aged 37, was convicted of drug charges. The other, aged 32, was serving a sentence for sexual assault. They are still on the run Thursday. Here’s what we know about this escape.
An outing supervised by unarmed supervisors
Eight detainees took part in this running outing in the Fontainebleau forest on Tuesday, franceinfo learned from reliable sources. They were supervised by unarmed guards. The two detainees said they wanted to urinate to escape the supervision of supervisors. They escaped to the Gorges de Franchard area around 3 p.m. “We were in the nails” concerning supervision, assures franceinfo the local secretary Force Ouvrière Justice of Fleury-Mérogis, Didier Kandassamy, with “six or eight inmates for four or five supervisors”.
One of the detainees had been convicted of violating drug legislation and was due to be released in 2024. The second was imprisoned for sexual assault and sexual exhibition until 2026, said the Evry prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation into escape. , entrusted to the Evry gendarmerie company. Search warrants were launched and “all means are deployed” to find them, the public prosecutor said.
Leave of absence granted as part of sentence adjustments
People selected to carry out this type of hike are done on a case-by-case basis and must, for example, not have been the subject of disciplinary sanctions. “These are release permissions supervised by the Prison Administration and granted by judicial decision”said the prosecution.
They are granted to prisoners as part of sentence adjustments, explained for his part the interregional director of the prison administration, Stéphane Scotto. “This modification of sentence was not successful, but it was, however, for other detainees who participated in this leave of absence and who made its progress entirely positive,” he added. “These are fortunately isolated facts”he underlined, recalling that these outings are “elements favoring reintegration” detainees and “recurrence prevention”.
Precedents of escape in this prison with an occupancy rate of 137.5%
“It doesn’t happen every day, but these are not isolated cases”, points to franceinfo Didier Kandassamy. For the Force Ouvrière unionist, “We never have maximum security during these outings. Consideration should perhaps be given to better supervise the outings and better select those who participate in them.”
The Fleury-Mérogis remand center has experienced several escapes in recent times. In April 2022, an inmate escaped during his transfer by the gendarmerie, when the van entered the alley leading to the prison, said The Parisian. He was caught a few days later, according to The Republican of Essonne. The summer of the same year, an inmate disappeared for seven weeks after a furlough, reported Actu Essonne. In June 2023, an inmate made himself beautiful by using a basket installed for work, before being arrested a few hours later.
The largest penitentiary center in Europe, the Fleury-Mérogis prison included 3,922 inmates on August 1, 2023, including women and minors, for 2,853 places, i.e. an occupancy rate of 137.5%, according to the Ministry of Defense. Justice.