Exterior view of the Madrid II penitentiary between the cities of Alcalá de Henares and Meco.Santi Burgos
At its inauguration in 1983 in the city of Alcalá de Henares, the Madrid II Penitentiary Center was presented as a testament to its design, which made it the safest prison in Spain. It cost 1,300 million pesetas (7.8 million euros) and was notable, for example, for having volumetric sensors and a video surveillance device to detect leaks and for being built on a large concrete slab to prevent drilling by the occupants make tunnels. The pavilions that housed the cells were built from prefabricated concrete pieces to avoid butrons (drilled holes to break through a wall), and every detail was taken into account in the interior design. Even the griffins were selected so that they could not be used to secretly produce edged weapons.
40 years later, this vaunted security was called into question by the bizarre escape on December 23 of a 20-year-old prisoner named Yousef Mohamed Lehrech, alias El Pastilla. Mohamed Lehrech, imprisoned since April and accused of committing two contract killings in Algeciras (Cádiz), took advantage of the fact that when he wanted to communicate with four relatives, he used a portcullis (double grille door system that separates rooms) and a… Consequence of the carelessness of the center's staff to calmly walk through the main entrance of the prison. Security forces have been searching for him ever since and posted photos of him on social media, calling on citizens to help find him. El Pastilla, classified as “very dangerous,” was the 22nd escapee that day in the 18 “escape incidents” (two inmates were involved in four) recorded in Spanish prisons since 2003, according to official prison statistics shows which EL PAÍS has access to.
More information
This number of refugees represents a minimal proportion of the criminal offenses recorded over the past two decades – more than 10,000 according to an estimate by this newspaper based on various government parliamentary responses. Three quarters of these were prisoners using their escape leave. Another part occurred when prisoners left for court, were admitted to hospitals or carried out a cultural activity outside the prison. The number of inmates in prisons under the Ministry of the Interior was 47,202 people as of last Friday, although, according to prison authorities, around 80,000 people pass through them at some point each year.
Photos of Yousef Mohamed Lehrech, “El Pastilla,” were released by the police to call on citizens to cooperate. National Police
“The architectural design of Spanish prisons, especially newer prisons, and the electronic security systems make it very difficult for an inmate to escape from prison,” says a veteran prison official, who points out that this is the main cause in most prisons of twenty Escapes involve what he euphemistically calls “the human factor,” alluding to the negligence of prison officials or security forces. Another prison official emphasizes the same idea, emphasizing that in Spain it is actually “unthinkable” that an escape like the one that occurred in Alcatraz prison in the United States in 1962, with open tunnels from the cells allowing the escape of three prisoners. However, that doesn't mean there aren't interns trying to emulate them. In May, in a first phase, employees of the Logroño prison found behind the toilets of two cells two buttresses with which the inmates wanted to access the corridors of the center, blind holes through which the various pipes pass. “Even if they had succeeded, it would be very unlikely that they would have managed to get outside and escape,” said a worker familiar with this frustrated escape.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
Prison sources also do not believe it is possible that a helicopter escape like that carried out by Redoine Faïd, a famous French robber, in a Paris prison would take place. It was his second escape after a previous one in which he used explosives and took hostages. “Using a helicopter to escape was something that ETA considered but did not implement,” these sources recall, referring to the terrorist organization's plans to free several of its members from Huelva prison and which were uncovered by the terrorist organization Guardia Civil in 2009. Despite everything, the security forces are not discouraged that something similar could be attempted in the future. In May 2019, a report from the Armed Institute warned that there were drones on the market that could carry up to 100 kilos and could therefore be used to help a prisoner escape.
📽️The prisoner who escaped from Melilla prison yesterday tells a group of young people how he escaped from prison through the “respect” section in this video that has gone viral 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/I4ff2fYaVm
— MELILLA HOY NEWSPAPER (@MELILLA_HOY) September 16, 2020
All prison sources consulted indicate that in recent cases registered in Spain, errors, human negligence “or the relaxation of security protocols” were the key element in the escape. It happened last week with El Pastilla, but also on September 15, 2021 in Melilla prison. That day, Bilal M. climbed a wall of the prison to supposedly retrieve a small package of drugs that had been thrown from outside and saw it, although it took a long time to reach the roof because there was even a shoelace caught in an accordion, no one tried to stop him, he decided to escape. He was arrested at 5pm after uploading videos on social media bragging about his escape. Nine months later, the corrections department concluded that much of the responsibility for that escape lay with two prison employees who were punished with seven months of employment and salary for “neglect of their duties.”
Jonathan Moñiz, “El Piojo,” in a gym on an unspecified date.
The investigation into the escape of Jonathan Moñiz Alcaide El Piojo and his brother Miguel Ángel from Valdemoro prison (Madrid) in December of the same year also found negligence. A court then investigated a prison official on suspicion that he had helped the brothers in exchange for money, but the case was eventually dropped. Two civil guardsmen who were tasked with guarding the perimeter were punished. One of them turned off the facility's alarms six times when they went off during the escape, mistakenly believing they had been activated accidentally and not checking to see what happened. According to investigators, El Piojo's escape required a long preparation process that included making a simple key, sawing poles and weaving a rope from sheets and trash bags. Jonathan Moñiz was arrested in Madrid two months later. His brother Miguel Ángel, five months after the escape. Nine days after the escape, the Interior Ministry issued instructions to all prisons to review security systems and prevent a repeat of “incidents and incidents that have occurred this year.”
“The one between El Piojo and his brother was one of the few escapes that had been prepared beforehand. Those of El Pastilla, like many of the previous ones, were an opportunistic escape. “The inmate sees a security gap, negligence or lack of zeal on the part of those responsible for monitoring and takes advantage of it,” a prison official points out. This was in fact the case registered last year in the Picassent prison (Valencia), whose development has great similarities with that of Alcalá-Meco. A 36-year-old prisoner serving a short sentence for minor offenses calmly escaped through the prison door after finding two doors open that should not have been open. “I had no escape plan,” prison sources recall. Neither does the pastilla.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_