Spectacular jailbreak

last updated 8 January 2015

Luynes, France

Three drug dealers literally flew away from prison this week in the latest in a series of Hollywood–style jailbreaks. The inmates’ accomplices swooped over the prison in a hijacked helicopter, sawed through the steel mesh over the prison courtyard that was specifically designed to prevent helicopter escapes, and dropped a ladder for the prisoners. The whole operation took less than three minutes. It was the fifth bold prison break in France this year. Last month, accomplices used a fake bazooka to spring a murder suspect; that same week, a heavily armed team of commandos blew their way through prison walls to release a notorious gangster. Justice Minister Dominique Perben tried to downplay the significance of the trend, saying there was no such thing as “absolute security.” But the prison officials’ union retorted that the present security measures at French prisons were “crap.”