An inmate escaped from Lyon-Corbas Prison in France by hiding inside the suitcase of his cellmate, French news outlet BFMTV reported on Saturday.
The 20-year-old is serving multiple sentences and is also part of a judicial investigation linked to organized crime, BFMTV said.
According to the prison administration, he "took advantage of the liberation of his fellow inmate to hide himself in his luggage and get out."
Following the escape, the prison administration confirmed to BFMTV that "an internal investigation has been launched."
The prisoner was later found and arrested on Monday morning in Sathonay-Camp, near Lyon, Lyon’s prosecutor’s office told CNN.
“The man who escaped from Corbas Remand Center was arrested this morning around 6:00 a.m., after leaving a cellar in Sathonay-Camp,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, as quoted by CNN. “No one was injured. His accomplice was not with him and has not yet been arrested.”
“The suspect is now in custody, facing charges of escape as part of an organized gang and involvement in a criminal conspiracy,” the statement added.
Prison is severely overcrowded
Sebastien Cauwel, director of France's prison administration, described the incident as “an extremely rare event” and said it highlighted a series of serious failures within the system, CNN reported
BFMTV reported that the prison is severely overcrowded, with an occupancy rate of nearly 180% as of May 1, 2025. The facility currently holds 1,218 inmates, although it has only 678 available spots.
“That makes the working conditions of our officers more complicated," Cauwel told BFMTV regarding the overcrowding.