Brought to hospital

Inmate set fire in Graz prison

The Graz-Jakomini prison

(Bild: Juergen Radspieler)

An inmate at the Jakomini prison in Graz was recently taken out of his cell by prison guards just in time. The convicted violent offender had previously set fire to it.

This man is really nothing to joke about: the 44-year-old has to serve 15 months in prison because he broke a woman's ribs and attacked her again a few days later. He also bit a police officer on the right hand when he tried to stop the violent offender from beating up the already injured woman again.

The fire was noticed early enough by the officers to prevent anything worse from happening

Manfred Ulrich, interimist. Leiter der JA Graz-Jakomini

He is currently serving his sentence in Graz-Jakomini prison. And even there he is anything but calm. As Christian Kroschl, spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Graz, confirms, he smashed a television and an armchair in his detention room in mid-March. Two days later, however, things got really dangerous and the act could have ended in disaster: He set fire to his cell! He did this by setting fire to a plastic box in which inmates keep blankets or razors, for example. Meanwhile, the inmate sat calmly on his bed and repeatedly took a sip of water.

The often immediate lifting of security measures poses an additional threat to the prison guards, who are already affected by staff shortages.

JW-Gewerkschafter Mario Raudner

Officers from the prison quickly noticed what was happening. They used heavy breathing protection to remove the inmate from the already heavily smoky cell. He was then taken to hospital by the Red Cross. "The officers noticed the fire early enough to prevent anything worse from happening," Manfred Ulrich, interim head of the prison, is pleased to report. Justice Guard trade unionist Mario Raudner also agrees when asked by "Krone", but criticizes the fact that only one justice guard was temporarily assigned to guard the dangerous man in the mental hospital: "The often immediate lifting of security measures poses an additional risk for the justice guards, who are already affected by staff shortages."