Fire in Berlin Jail Tegel: a prisoner is dead

A 42-year-old prisoner died in a fire in his prison room in Berlin’s Tegel prison. The fire had broken out on Friday night. Justice spokesman Sebastian Brux said the man was in prison V, he had been sentenced to life imprisonment. The cause of the fire was still unclear. The police have opened an investigation, said a spokeswoman.

According to the fire department, the fire broke out in the detention room on the fourth floor of the eight-story building. The emergency services had been alerted at 3.09 a.m. According to this, furnishings in the room had caught fire. So far there has been no information as to whether the prisoner may have ignited them himself.

70 firefighters fought the flames, as a spokesman said in the morning. Regarding a possible corona risk, the spokesman said that the forces already had full protection when fighting. The assignment lasted about two and a half hours.

21 prisoners brought to safety

Twenty-one prisoners from surrounding detention rooms were brought to safety, the spokesman said. They were moved to another wing of the prison. According to current knowledge, nobody was seriously injured. Justice Senator Dirk Behrendt (Greens) thanked the emergency services and staff for their efforts, Spokesman Brux said.

Around 800 men with medium and long prison terms and life imprisonment are housed in Tegel. With an area of ​​more than 130,000 square meters, the institution is one of the largest prisons in Germany. Some buildings date from early 1898.