Man sets fire to his prison clothes

Although the subsequent property damage was small, the action of a now 25-year-old man could have ended in a serious fire.

In August of last year, a 25-year-old Algerian, who had several previous convictions, covered over the surveillance camera in his cell in the Zug detention centre using toilet paper. He then set fire to his prison clothes. These consisted of sweatpants, a T-shirt and a sweater. In order to set fire to the clothes, he also wrapped them with toilet paper and then lit the whole bundle.

The fire alarm went off shortly afterwards,, and, when entering, an employee of the detention centre found one-metre-high flames at the back of the cell. He was able to extinguish them with a hose, however. No one was injured, and the property damage only amounted to CHF 49 – "as a result of the destruction of the prison clothes", as stated in the penalty order.

What caused the man, whose current location is currently unknown, to set fire to his clothes is not clear from the penalty order.

Unrepentant, despite many convictions
On the one hand, the report states that he was destitute and unemployed, and also had several previous convictions, for which he was unrepentant. Several conditional fines and imprisonments, as well as an unconditional custodial sentence, had not prevented him from committing further offences. "As it is to be expected that he cannot pay a fine, an unconditional prison sentence of less than six months was to be ordered,” according to the penalty order.

The 25-year-old was sentenced to 20 days of unconditional imprisonment for attempted arson. As a consequence, the Public Prosecutor's Office has refrains from charging costs in this case.