A tragedy at Seysses prison. On Friday morning, January 7, an inmate was found dead in his prison cell near Toulouse. He had hanged himself with his bed sheet, reports the newspaper La Dépêche. According to initial investigations, the 36-year-old man suffered from mental disorders and had been imprisoned for glorifying Islamist terrorism. In October, he had applied for a transfer to Perpignan, which was rejected by the prison administration. After the rejection, he allegedly became increasingly aggressive towards the staff of the prison in Muret, where he had been imprisoned for a former crime.
On November 4, he had violently attacked a counsellor of the SPIP (Service pénitentiaire d’insertion et de probation) and threatened to “cut off her head like Samuel Paty”. After another incident a week later, the prison administration had filed charges against the prisoner and decided to transfer him to Seysses, a high-security prison known for holding Islamist prisoners. He was supposed to be tried on December 29 for the death threats against the “SPIP” staff member, but his lawyer had obtained an adjournment until January 11. Since then he has been in solitary confinement.