PARIS – The French justice ministry says two guards have been freed after a hostage-taking by an inmate armed with a hand-made weapon at a top security French prison in Normandy.
The inmate surrendered overnight to special intervention forces called to the scene at Conde-Sur-Sarthe Penitentiary, the ministry said Wednesday.
The prisoner had taken the two guards hostage at dinner time Tuesday.
Prison union representatives described the 35-year-old inmate as "professor of hostage-taking" as he was previously involved in five similar incidents.
The man, convicted for rape and the murder of a prison cellmate, has a history of psychiatric problems, the ministry said.
Conde-Sur-Sarthe was also the site of a hostage-taking in March.
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