France catches second escapee in bedsheet prison break

The second inmate who escaped from Dijon prison was arrested in the Rosiers housing estate, a run-down condominium in the city's northern districts known as a drug-dealing hotspot. Photo / Miguel Medina, AFP

French police on have caught the second inmate who escaped from prison in late November by sawing through cell bars and using bed sheets.

France has some of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe, and the old-fashioned prison break sparked an outcry from unions, accusing the state of neglecting regular jails as it moves drug-linked criminals into new high-security facilities.

The 19-year-old escapee, suspected in a drug-linked attempted murder case, was found in the southern port city of Marseille after Interpol issued a red notice for him.

He and another detainee had fled an overcrowded jail in the eastern city of Dijon after sawing through their cell bars with blades that investigators suspect were delivered by drone.

Police tracked down the Marseille native some 500km south of the prison to a run-down apartment complex in the north of the city, known to be a drug-dealing hotspot.

His fellow fugitive, a 32-year-old man accused of violence against a partner, was arrested a day after their escape, when police officers swooped down on a village bar where he was sipping coffee.

‘Old-fashioned’ blades

Guards noticed the two men had fled from the Dijon prison before dawn.

The 32-year-old man had left a message in his cell, saying he had been held for “too long”, according to Dijon’s public prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch. It was not immediately clear for how long he had been held.

Union official Ahmed Saih, who represents prison officers at the jail, said shortly after the breakout that the inmates used “old-fashioned, manual saw blades”, and that several such blades had been found previously.

The saws were likely delivered by drones, Caracotch said following the escape, with several individuals already sentenced over drone deliveries to the same jail.

In early October, French prisons hosted 135 inmates per 100 places available.

The Dijon prison, built in 1853, is in poor condition, with 311 inmates for 180 places, according to the justice ministry.

In the week before the breakout, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin announced the Dijon facility was scheduled to receive €6.3 million ($12.8m), as part of a programme to eradicate mobile phones from six French prisons.

The prison break came less than two weeks after another escape in the northwestern city of Rennes.

A 37-year-old convict, who had more than a year still to serve for theft, fled on November 14 during an outing with fellow prisoners to the city’s planetarium. He was later caught in the nearby city of Nantes.

-Agence France-Presse