French inmates escape from Dijon prison 'using bed sheets'

Two detainees at a French jail sawed through the bars of their cell and escaped using bed sheets overnight, a prosecutor said Thursday, in the second such incident in recent weeks.

Guards noticed that they had escaped from the jail in the eastern city of Dijon shortly before dawn, the prison service said, without adding how exactly they made it out.

The pair "seem to have sawn through bars" and "fled using bed sheets", Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch said, without providing further details on how exactly they did it.

The fugitives are 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 threats and violence against a partner, Caracotch said.

The prison break comes 10 days after another escape in the western city of Rennes.

A 37-year-old convict, who was supposed to be serving time until early 2027 for theft, fled during an outing with fellow prisoners to the city's planetarium. 

It was not immediately clear if he had been caught.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin sacked the prison's director.

Three prison director unions on Wednesday lashed out at the tough-talking right-wing minister, who is carrying out a plan to lock up the most dangerous drug traffickers in supermax prisons.

They accused him of "devoting all the resources of a debt-ridden state" to the high-security prisons for those accused of drug traffickers and jihadist attacks, and neglecting the "vast majority" of other jails.

"While the justice minister parades around in overfunded facilities, other (prison) services are suffering," they said in a joint statement.

Watch moreFrench prisons: A ticking time bomb

France has some of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe, ranking third worst after Slovenia and Cyprus, according to a Council of Europe report published in July.

In early October, they hosted 135 inmates per 100 places available.

Notorious French drug baron Mohamed Amra, known as "The Fly", was transferred to a new supermax prison in northern France in July.

Read moreWhat we know about France’s ‘The Fly’ and his deadly prison van escape

Amra made headlines when he escaped in May 2024 at a road toll from a prison van following an attack by suspected accomplices in which two prison guards were killed.

He was caught in Romania and extradited to France after a months-long manhunt.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)