“We avoided the worst.

The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, did not hide his relief on Tuesday afternoon after the return to calm in the prison of Condé-sur-Sarthe, in the Orne.

“The hostage-taking is over.

The inmate surrendered.

I give my support to the two supervisors who were victims and I warmly congratulate the personnel of the Eris [regional intervention and security teams] and of the Raid who made possible this rapid outcome ”, he declared at the beginning of the post. noon on Twitter, before going there. 

20 Minutes

takes stock of what we know about this hostage-taking.

What happened ?

The alert was given around 10:15 am when the detainee, Sofiane Rasmouk, returned to his cell. Transferred on September 17 to this penitentiary center - one of the most secure in France - the man took two guards hostage, injuring one in the eye with a fork sharpened by him.

Negotiations were quickly initiated by the prison staff, pending the arrival of the regional intervention and security teams (ERIS).

According to the first elements of the investigation, the man held confused claims.

Shortly after noon, one of the monitors was released “voluntarily”.

His colleague, injured, was injured after the intervention of the Raid, the hostage taker having then "voluntarily agreed to surrender," said the prosecutor of the Republic of Alençon, François Coudert.

The detainee is not injured.

The supervisor was taken to the emergency room.

Who is the hostage taker?

Sofiane Rasmouk, 33, presented a particularly worrying profile: he was sentenced on appeal, in 2017, to life imprisonment, with a 22-year safety sentence, for rape, attempted rape and attempted murder. . Then aged 25, this man, described as a "psychopath" by experts, had raped and hit a 19-year-old woman in August 2013 in the street in Colombes, in Hauts-de-Seine, just after having brutally assaulted another woman, 31, slaughtering her with kicks and punches, leaving her 60% disabled.

According to the public prosecutor, the man had also "already in the past been convicted of acts of violence against a person holding public authority in a previous place of detention".

Asked by AFP, Me Francis Terquem, one of Sofiane Rasmouk's former lawyers, described "a bull, a beast of nature".

“He is someone who is incapable of dealing with the slightest frustration.

He had tried to hit me during the hearing, he had broken the safety glass of the box with his fists, ”he commented.

Why is Condé-sur-Sarthe prison regularly the scene of violent acts?

The Condé-sur-Sarthe high security penitentiary center, opened in January 2013, has experienced several serious incidents despite being one of the most recent and modern in France. In March 2019, Michaël Chiolo, had attacked two supervisors with a ceramic knife. The assailant, who was serving a thirty-year sentence and radicalized in prison, then retreated with his partner for nearly ten hours in the family life unit (UVF) of the establishment. After attempts at negotiations, elite police forces launched the assault, wounding the assailant and killing his partner.

Three months later, in June 2019, two prison staff had been taken hostage by the "prison hostage-taking champion", Francis Dorffer and the two supervisors had left unharmed.

"On paper, Condé is ultra-secure but the means announced are not there," said Joseph Rousseau, FO interregional secretary.

"We are waiting for a stun gun, electric pulse pistols and the management is not at all focused on security."

Miscellaneous

Prison: The detainee taking hostages in Condé-sur-Sarthe surrendered

Justice

Avignon: A driver without a license sentenced for the death of a high school student on the bypass

  • Hostage taking

  • Supervisors

  • Society

  • Jail