Soon after, Mr. Merah was sent to the Saint-Sulpice-la-Pointe prison, near Toulouse, to serve an 18-month conviction for snatching an elderly woman's handbag.
He spent two years in prison between late 2007 and late 2009 after a court sentenced him for stealing an elderly woman's handbag, according to Christian Etelin, the lawyer who defended him at the time.