In a scene reminiscent of classic prison films, two inmates successfully escaped from a French correctional facility using bed sheets after manually sawing through their cell bars, authorities confirmed Thursday.
The Daring Escape
Guards at the Dijon prison discovered the escape shortly before dawn, according to the prisons authority. The two men had apparently sawed through the bars of their cell and used bed sheets to facilitate their flight from the facility.
Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch stated the prisoners "seem to have sawn through bars" and "fled using bed sheets," though specific details about how exactly they employed the bedding in their escape remain unclear.
The fugitives include a 19-year-old man held in pre-trial detention since October 2024 for attempted murder in a drug-related case, and a 32-year-old man incarcerated since 2023 over charges involving threats and violence against a partner.
Systemic Problems Revealed
Ahmed Saih, a union official representing prison officers at the facility, revealed that the inmates used "old-fashioned, manual saw blades" in their escape. Saih emphasized that prison staff had been warning about the risk of such a jail break for months, noting previous discoveries of saw blades within the prison.
The union representative called for immediate improvements, including more staff and better equipment featuring "gratings that cannot be sawn through."
The Dijon prison, originally constructed in 1853, suffers from significant structural issues and severe overcrowding. According to justice ministry figures, the facility currently houses 311 inmates despite being designed for only 180 prisoners.
Broader Prison Crisis
This escape highlights France's ongoing prison challenges, as the country contends with some of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe. Staff unions have repeatedly complained that the government is neglecting standard correctional facilities while focusing resources on new supermax prisons designed for narcotics criminals and other high-risk inmates.
The prison break in Dijon occurred just ten days after another escape in the western city of Rennes, where a 37-year-old convict with more than a year remaining on his theft sentence fled during an organized outing to the city's planetarium.
In response to the Rennes incident, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin dismissed the prison's director. However, three prison directors' unions subsequently criticized the minister, accusing him of "devoting all the resources of a debt-ridden state" to high-security facilities while neglecting the majority of France's prisons.
The unions jointly declared that "while the justice minister parades around in overfunded facilities, other prison services are suffering," underscoring the systemic nature of the problem.
