Cuba: El Caribe newspaper.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 27 (RHC) – Fourteen inmates died, several were injured and 11 escaped during the breakout from the civil prison in Gonaïves during the protest movement led by Haitian police officers, prosecutor Serard Gasius confirmed on Friday.
According to Gasius, the deceased attempted to exploit tensions within law enforcement to escape and were caught in the crossfire between officers and groups of armed civilians.
Hundreds of officers across the country demonstrated on Thursday over the killing of six colleagues the previous day. In the images circulated through social networks, the agents’ naked bodies could be seen along with their weapons.
The events ignited the fury of uniformed officers who blocked streets, erected smoking barricades and attacked Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s residences and facilities at Toussaint Louverture International Airport.
Amid the confusion, police officers entered Gonaïves prison to free a prisoner and inmates took the head of the registry hostage, confiscated his service weapon, fired inside the prison and managed to open the cells to escape.
The government commissioner said the total was 14 deaths and 11 escapes, although human rights organizations said the number of deaths is higher.
Prisoner escapes have been ongoing in Haiti, a country mired in an acute institutional, political, economic and security crisis, where hundreds of inmates died in 2022 from starvation and appalling conditions in the centers.
Last September, 145 prisoners managed to escape from the Cabaret prison northwest of the capital, adding to the long list of escapes. (font: Latin Press).