Justice: focus on prison escapes in France

Prison escapes are violent, but sometimes more clever. “His wife came to get one with a grenade. Another escaped from the Palais de Justice in Paris. His wife took him out of the courtroom disguised as a lawyer. Afterwards, there was fashion helicopters”, reports Me Joseph Cohen-Sabban. In France, escapes from places of detention are few: 10 in 2021, 13 in 2022 and 16 this year. But we must also take into account the 700 other prisoners who do not return on time during semi-release regimes.

Drone deliveries

“Under the word escape, we have a multitude of possible cases. An escape is someone who returns five minutes late to their semi-release center. (…) It is also someone who escapes from custody at sight”, explains Cédric Logelin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice. Prison guard unions point to the recurring problem of drone deliveries to inmates. According to the unions, the Ministry of Justice has allocated three million euros to fight against this phenomenon. An envelope considered insufficient for the 190 penitentiary establishments.