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Inmates escaped through wall of infamous Haiti prison

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

As many as 30 inmates burrowed through a prison wall and escaped in the latest in a string of breakouts from Haiti's largest penitentiary, police said Tuesday.

Describing Monday's daylight breakout, witnesses told local media that prisoners waited for a police patrol to pass before slipping through the 50-centimeter (20-inch) hole and fleeing the overcrowded National Penitentiary, just blocks from Haiti's National Palace.

Police quickly cordoned off the area and searched houses for the inmates. It wasn't immediately clear how many escaped, but officials said up to 30 prisoners may be missing.

Police Inspector General Fritz Jean told reporters the escape was under investigation, and private radio Kiskeya reported that four prison guards had been arrested on suspicion of involvement.

Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours declined to take questions when reached by phone, saying senior authorities were meeting to discuss the escape.

In July, 26 Haitian convicts deported from the United States escaped from a holding cell at the National Penitentiary.

In Feb. 2005, nearly 500 prisoners escaped from the National Penitentiary in a jail break allegedly aided by corrupt guards who unlocked the doors and allowed inmates to flee.

A year earlier, hundreds of prisoners escaped amid the chaos of a revolt that toppled former president Jean Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004.

The prison was built nearly 100 years ago to house 800 prisoners but reportedly holds twice that number, many of whom have languished in squalor for years while awaiting resolution of their case.

When President Rene Preval took the oath of office in May, inmates rioted and gathered on the prison roof where they held aloft signs demanding their freedom.