On the night of Sunday, November 30 to Monday, December 1, 34 prisoners (according to figures circulating but unofficial) managed to escape from the civil prison of Saint-Marc, located on the corner of Rue Armand Thoby and Savannah Street. According to preliminary informations the detainees sawed the bars of the cell #7,where the group was locked, then they headed in the courtyard of the Catholic Church of Saint-Marc, located just behind the building. At that time Penitentiary agents realized nothing.

Alerted by the magnitude of the escape, police authority of the city have established security perimeters, and established checkpoints at exits of the city, in order to found the fugitives.

Recall that in the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance (CFI) of Saint-Marc, of a total of 401 detainees, they are 143 defendants and 258 convicted a rate of prolonged preventive detention of 36%. This is a major effort in this important city in the Artibonite.

UPDATE 2:50 pm

According to latest reports, a guard was arrested for having possibly helped inmates, indicated inspector Charles Roubins.

UPDATE 02-12-2014 - 4h53

Berson Soljour, Police Commissioner of Saint-Marc, declared that four of the men had been recaptured, but the rest remained at large. Specifying that all of those who escaped had been awaiting trial, including one for a murder charge. All five guards who were on overnight duty at the jail have been detained on suspicion of aiding the escape.

We also learned that the Dominican Directorate General of Immigration and the National Department of Investigations alerted the staff in service at the border, airports and ports of the Dominican Republic to prevent the entrance of Haitian fugitives. Haitian authorities had sent a list with the names, photos and data on each escapees.

HL/ HaitiLibre