Two prison guards taken hostage at French jail

One prison guard suffers eye injury before inmate surrenders after hours-long standoff

Two prison guards have been taken hostage at a jail in northwestern France (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A prison guard was injured as two were held hostage by an inmate at a jail in northwestern France.

The prison officers, a man and a woman, were taken hostage by a prisoner reportedly armed with a knife at the high-security jail in Conde-sur-Sarthe on Tuesday morning.

The female guard was freed after several hours but her male colleague, who suffered an injury to his right eye, continued to be held until the prisoner eventually surrendered following negotiations.

French justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti wrote on Twitter: “The hostage-taking is over. The inmate surrendered.

“I give my support to the two victim supervisors and I warmly congratulate the staff of the ÉRIS and the RAID who made this rapid outcome possible. I will go to meet them this afternoon.”

The Justice Ministry said security units at the jail had been mobilised and extra forces despatched in response to the incident at the prison, about 155 miles (250km) west of Paris.

French broadcaster BFMTV reported the suspected hostage-taker was serving a long sentence for rape and attempted murder.

It follows a similar incident at the jail in June 2019 when a prison officer and trainee were taken hostage by an inmate before eventually being released five hours later.

Additional reporting by Reuters