Man Escapes Prison by Hiding in Released Cellmate’s Laundry Bag

In a prison system already bursting at the seams, one inmate in Lyon, France, managed to slip out the front gate by literally zipping himself into someone else’s luggage.

The inmate, identified as 20-year-old Elyazid A., escaped the maximum-security Lyon-Corbas prison on July 11 by hiding inside a large canvas bag typically used by prisoners being released. His cellmate, whose sentence had ended that day, rolled the heavy bag out to a waiting car. No one stopped them. No one checked the bag. And no one noticed anything unusual until the next day.

“This is an extremely rare event that we have never experienced in this administration,” France’s prison director told a local news outlet, adding that the escape revealed “a whole series of serious dysfunctions.”

A 20-Year-Old Criminal Escaped a French Prison by Hiding in a Cellmate’s Luggage

The bag itself was large enough to need a cart, which the released inmate requested without raising any eyebrows. The guards helped him load it into a vehicle and just waved him off, unknowingly sending two people out of the prison, not one. Big oops. 

Elyazid wasn’t just a petty thief doing something dumb for attention. He was serving time for multiple offenses tied to organized crime and had an active committal warrant as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. Once his escape was discovered 24 hours later (literally an entire day), authorities launched a nationwide manhunt.

He was found the next day crawling out of a cellar in Sathonay-Camp, just north of Lyon. Police arrested him without incident. His alleged accomplice, the now-former inmate who carried the bag, remains missing.

Corbas prison, where the escape happened, has long been under scrutiny for overcrowding. As of May 1, the facility held 1,218 inmates in a space built for just 678. That’s nearly double capacity, and exactly the kind of overstretched environment where something like this can go unnoticed.

The case has now been referred to France’s Organized and Specialized Crime Division, with an official investigation launched into charges of escape and criminal conspiracy. Meanwhile, prison officials are scrambling to explain how a human being was able to smuggle himself out of a locked facility using only a duffel bag and a little help from a friend. Maybe a few more checks and balances?

For now, the bagman’s on the run. And the prison’s left wondering how much else they’ve missed.