Prison director and gang leader among 25 killed in Haitian jailbreak

More than 400 inmates have escaped and 25 people have died in a prison breakout in Haiti, authorities say, making it the country’s largest and deadliest one in a decade. A prison director and a powerful gang leader were among those killed.

The breakout at Croix-des-Bouquets prison on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday was believed to be an attempt to free gang leader Arnel Joseph, who had been Haiti’s most wanted fugitive until his 2019 arrest on charges including rape, kidnapping and murder.

Joseph, who was reportedly still wearing prison chains on his ankles, was being ridden on a motorcycle through the Artibonite area in the town of L’Estere on Friday a day after his escape when he was spotted at a checkpoint, police spokesman Gary Desrosiers told Associated Press. He said Joseph pulled out a gun and died in an exchange of gunfire with police.

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Joseph ruled Village de Dieu, or Village of God, a shantytown in Port-au-Prince, and other communities, including some in Artibonite, which is Haiti’s largest department.

Authorities have not yet provided much detail about the breakout except to say that 60 inmates have been recaptured and the investigation is ongoing. State secretary, Frantz Exantus, said authorities have created several commissions to investigate who organised the breakout and why. Among those killed was the prison director, identified as Paul Joseph Hector.

Residents who declined to be identified because they feared for their life said they saw gunmen shoot at prison guards on Thursday before inmates escaped from the Croix-des-Bouquets penitentiary.

The prison is known for a 2014 breakout in which more than 300 of the 899 inmates escaped. Some believed that attack was designed to free Clifford Brandt, the son of a prominent businessman, who had been imprisoned since 2012 for allegedly kidnapping the adult children of a rival businessman. Brandt was captured two days later near the Dominican Republic border.

After the 2014 breakout, officials said they were taking steps to up security at the prison, including installing security cameras and placing ankle monitors on the most dangerous prisoners. It was not immediately clear if any of those measures were taken. At the time of Thursday’s breakout, the prison held 1,542 inmates, nearly twice its capacity.

Haiti’s largest prison breakout in recent history occurred after the devastating 2010 earthquake in which more than 4,200 inmates fled the notorious national penitentiary in Port-au-Prince.

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Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moise, tweeted on Friday that he condemned the most recent jailbreak and asked people to remain calm. He added that Haiti’s national police was “instructed to take “all measures” to bring the situation under control.

Meanwhile, Helen La Lime, Haiti’s special representative of the secretary-general of the United Nations, said in a statement that she was deeply concerned with the mutiny and prison escape.

“I encourage the police to speed up investigations on the circumstances surrounding this incident, redouble its efforts to re-apprehend the escapees, and strengthen security around prisons throughout the country,” she said.

“This prison break further highlights the problem of prolonged preventive detention and prison overcrowding which remains matter of concern that must be urgently addressed by Haitian authorities.”