A 41-year-old mother accused of abandoning her two young sons in a remote Portuguese forest is being held in one of the country's most notorious women's prisons, where inmates have deliberately started fires and guards face frequent attacks.
The Case of Marine Rousseau
Marine Rousseau and her boyfriend, Marc Ballabriga, 55, face charges of endangerment and abandonment after a five-year-old boy and his three-year-old brother were discovered walking along a rural road in the Monte Novo do Sul area, between Comporta and Alcácer do Sal in Portugal. According to authorities, the boys were left blindfolded in woods near an abandoned bus stop, with only a couple of pieces of fruit and a bottle of water. A local baker found the children and alerted police. The boys are now placed with a foster family until they can be returned to France.
Arrest and Detention
The pair were arrested by the Portuguese National Guard on Thursday while sitting calmly at a café terrace near the pilgrimage town of Fátima, about 120 miles from where the children were found. On Saturday, Rousseau sang to herself as she was brought into court. An investigating judge remanded her to the Tires women's prison, located about 12 miles west of Lisbon.
Notorious Prison Conditions
Tires is a multi-security prison housing several hundred inmates, including both pre-trial detainees and convicted offenders, and handles many of Portugal's most severe criminal cases. The facility has a history of safety issues. Last year, an inmate intentionally started a fire in her cell, resulting in five female officers being rushed to hospital for smoke inhalation. The prisoner had recently been transferred after previous assaults at another facility.
In the same year, Portuguese broadcaster RTP reported two suspected drug overdoses at the facility, one of which led to an inmate's death. The chief prison officer was dismissed pending an investigation. Unions also reported more than a dozen attacks on guards by inmates in 2024. Past incidents include a widespread Covid outbreak in 2020 that infected over 120 inmates, as well as prisoner deaths in 2018 and 2021.
Background of the Accused
Rousseau, who divorced from the boys' father several years ago, promotes herself online as a sexologist who can help all people who have suffered trauma to regain serenity and sexual satisfaction. Ballabriga is a former police officer convicted in 2010 of harassment and domestic violence against the mother of his daughter, according to French media. He is being held at Setúbal Prison. Rousseau will remain at Tires until her next court appearance.
