Prison officer sentenced to one year in custody for drug trafficking at Eysses
A 31-year-old prison officer has been sentenced by Agen court for smuggling drugs and alcohol into prison in exchange for 20,000 euros.
One year in custody for the Eysses officer who was bringing drugs and alcohol into prison
A 31-year-old prison officer, employed as a warden and sports instructor at Eysses detention centre in Lot-et-Garonne, has been sentenced to one year in custody plus two years suspended and a fine of 5,000 euros. The Agen correctional court delivered its judgment on Thursday 24 September. The defendant is barred indefinitely from working in the civil service.
According to sudouest.fr, the defendant was facing charges of improper delivery of objects to detainees and passive corruption. In court, he did not deny the facts: he admitted to being paid to smuggle drugs and alcohol into the facility.
Transactions at the gymnasium, away from cameras
The officer had chosen the prison gymnasium to carry out his deliveries — "one of the only rooms that doesn't have a camera," he specified himself before the court. The method was well-established: drugs were concealed in water bottles, alcohol in plastic mineral water bottles. Communications with suppliers and consumers went through Snapchat.
The defendant claims he never knew precisely who was ordering or who was receiving the goods. "People would bring the drugs to my house in person. Each time it was a different person. Then I would leave the products at the sports office. Someone would come and collect them. There was no face-to-face meeting," he declared, facing the court's scepticism. He also stated that he had "never" supplied cocaine or mobile phones.
20,000 euros collected over several months
It was a build-up of reports from detainees to the facility's governor that led to the officer being identified. Analysis of his telephone confirmed the investigators' suspicions. From February to September 2025, the man in his thirties received a total of 20,000 euros. During a search of his home, 11,000 euros in cash were found, as well as six cannabis resin blocks and three mobile phones in cellophane.
To justify his actions, the defendant cited financial difficulties: his 2,100 euros net monthly salary was not enough to cover travel to see his son, who lives four and a half hours away from him, or to pay housing and local costs. The public prosecutor's office noted a contradiction with the purchase of an electric bicycle worth 3,000 euros. The prosecution representative described these actions, motivated by "greed," as an "extremely serious breach of his duty," emphasising that the defendant, as a member of the Ministry of Justice, was thereby contributing to "corrupting the work of investigators" and could have endangered personnel at the facility.
A downward spiral according to the defence
"The damage is done. I regret it," the officer declared in court. His management knew him for his unjustified absences and several meetings had taken place for "various professional failings." His lawyer, Ms Agathe Bouchindhomme, argued that the detainees had exploited his psychological vulnerabilities: "It started with small innocent acts, then it became bigger and bigger. He got caught in a downward spiral." She also pointed out that her client was not the only officer involved in trafficking at the facility and that he kept quiet out of fear of retaliation.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)