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French Prison System Gives Hope to Inmates
ARIS, April 14 — In the latest in a chain of spectacular jailbreaks at French prisons, accomplices descended on a prison in central France in a helicopter today, then used a buzz saw to cut through steel security netting and free three inmates.
The jailbreak, at a high-security prison at Luynes, near Aix-en-Provence, was the third major prison escape in a month and the fifth since the start of the year. The prison breaks have embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, which has put domestic security at the top of its legislative agenda, and are forcing the government to rethink security in French prisons, which have severe overcrowding.
While the helicopter hovered over the prison, a man was let down on a rope, then used a rotary saw to cut through netting stretched across the prison courtyard. He then helped the three — Franck Perletto, Michel Valero and Eric Alboreo, accused of running an international drug ring — clamber aboard the waiting helicopter and escape.
Prison officials said the helicopter then flew to a nearby village where the three inmates were transferred to a getaway car.
Last month, six men dressed as police officers sprayed guard posts with gunfire at a prison in Fresnes, outside Paris, then used an antitank bazooka to break open the main gate. Once inside, they used plastic explosives to break through several doors and reach the cell of Antonio Ferrara, 29, who was serving an eight-year jail sentence for armed bank robbery. A week earlier, a murder suspect thought to have ties to Mr. Ferrara, Joseph Menconi, 37, escaped from a jail in Borgo, on Corsica, after accomplices threatened prison guards with a fake weapon. Mr. Ferrara was rearrested on March 31; Mr. Menconi remains at large.
Mr. Raffarin's justice minister, Dominique Perben, said it appeared that both men may have benefited from help within their prisons.
The escape today appeared to confirm the suspicion raised by Mr. Perben that security measures that have sharply reduced the overall number of escapes from French prisons have driven some inmates to resort to more dramatic measures. The number of escapes dropped by almost half to fewer than 15 in 2002, from an average of about 30 in recent years.
After the escapes in March, Mr. Perben ordered a toughening of security measures at all French prisons. In large-scale search actions, hundreds of police and prison officials have searched cells in three big prisons notorious for violence, including one at Fresnes, not far from Disneyland Paris, in Marseille and in Clairvaux, in southern France.
The steel netting was put in place at Luynes after an inmate was freed in a similar escape last year in which a helicopter landed in the courtyard, according to Didier Lallemant, the director of the French penitentiary system. The pilot had been taken hostage and forced to fly to the prison, Mr. Lallemant said at a news conference in Paris. He said guards had been ordered not to fire at the helicopter to avoid an explosion.
The jailbreak, at a high-security prison at Luynes, near Aix-en-Provence, was the third major prison escape in a month and the fifth since the start of the year. The prison breaks have embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, which has put domestic security at the top of its legislative agenda, and are forcing the government to rethink security in French prisons, which have severe overcrowding.
While the helicopter hovered over the prison, a man was let down on a rope, then used a rotary saw to cut through netting stretched across the prison courtyard. He then helped the three — Franck Perletto, Michel Valero and Eric Alboreo, accused of running an international drug ring — clamber aboard the waiting helicopter and escape.
Prison officials said the helicopter then flew to a nearby village where the three inmates were transferred to a getaway car.
Last month, six men dressed as police officers sprayed guard posts with gunfire at a prison in Fresnes, outside Paris, then used an antitank bazooka to break open the main gate. Once inside, they used plastic explosives to break through several doors and reach the cell of Antonio Ferrara, 29, who was serving an eight-year jail sentence for armed bank robbery. A week earlier, a murder suspect thought to have ties to Mr. Ferrara, Joseph Menconi, 37, escaped from a jail in Borgo, on Corsica, after accomplices threatened prison guards with a fake weapon. Mr. Ferrara was rearrested on March 31; Mr. Menconi remains at large.
Mr. Raffarin's justice minister, Dominique Perben, said it appeared that both men may have benefited from help within their prisons.
The escape today appeared to confirm the suspicion raised by Mr. Perben that security measures that have sharply reduced the overall number of escapes from French prisons have driven some inmates to resort to more dramatic measures. The number of escapes dropped by almost half to fewer than 15 in 2002, from an average of about 30 in recent years.
After the escapes in March, Mr. Perben ordered a toughening of security measures at all French prisons. In large-scale search actions, hundreds of police and prison officials have searched cells in three big prisons notorious for violence, including one at Fresnes, not far from Disneyland Paris, in Marseille and in Clairvaux, in southern France.
The steel netting was put in place at Luynes after an inmate was freed in a similar escape last year in which a helicopter landed in the courtyard, according to Didier Lallemant, the director of the French penitentiary system. The pilot had been taken hostage and forced to fly to the prison, Mr. Lallemant said at a news conference in Paris. He said guards had been ordered not to fire at the helicopter to avoid an explosion.
I wonder how....let me change that to 35% troll. 
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