A 22-year-old detainee was found hanged Friday evening in his cell at the Valenciennes remand center, aid workers and a union source in the prison said on Saturday.
Called around 10 p.m., the firefighters intervened but could not revive the young man, indicates the departmental fire and rescue service of the North in a press release, without further details.
"No problem in detention"
According to France 3, the victim had been discovered a few minutes before by the prison guards who carried out their rounds within the arrivals district, which welcomes the inmates at the start of their imprisonment before they join another cell.
According to the union source, the young man had been in pre-trial detention "for only three days", awaiting trial for criminal acts.
He had previously made "several passages in prison, but only for offenses judged in correctional" and had "never posed any problem in detention", added this source.
Contacted, the prison administration was not immediately reachable.