London
CNN
–
Officials told local media.
French prison management director Sebastian Cowell said on Sunday CNN affiliate BFMTV that the man “utilized” the release of fellow inmates to escape from Corvas prison near Lyon, a southeastern city.
Cowwell told the station that prison officials noticed the man had fled Saturday morning. He acknowledged the “accumulation of errors” and noted that an investigation into the incident was opened.
“This is a very rare event we’ve never seen in this administration and clearly shows a series of serious failures,” Cauwel said, noting that Corvas’ prisons are overcrowded.
The prison occupancy rate is around 170%, he told the broadcaster. “It makes working conditions more complicated for our executives.”
The prisoners who fled the prisoners had served several sentences, the French prison said in a statement cited by the European News Agency AFP. He was also under investigation in cases related to organized crime, the AFP reported, citing an unknown source close to the issue.
Last year, another French prisoner fled after the gunman ambushed a prison convoy carrying him to a prison in the northern region of Normandy. According to Reuters, the fugitive, Mohamed Amra, is also known as the “fly.”
