Four Prisoners Killed and Eight Escaped in Northwestern Haiti

May 4, 2024 Hour: 3:27 pm

At least 4 prisoners died and 8 others escaped in a civilian prison in Port-de-Paix, in the north-west of the country, on Friday night, according to local police at a press conference on Saturday.

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A source from the Northwest Police Department reported that a prisoner pretending to be sick was rescued by the police on duty at the civilian prison. Once recovered, the prisoner refused to return to his cell.

While the police pressed the recovered prisoner, the other detainees took advantage of the situation to invade the exit door in order to escape. As a result, a police officer suffered a back injury.

According to the UN, the crisis in Haiti has forced more than two million people to the brink of starvation. Port-au-Prince based journalist Etienne Cote-Paluck talks about the situation on the ground. #heat pic.twitter.com/ygTZRdCyHE

— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica)
May 4, 2024

“In the face of this incident, the police are not standing idly by. There are escaped prisoners and they must be found. All police stations are mobilized,” said the police source, who formally denied rumors that Port-de-Paix civilian prison had been assaulted by armed bandits.

In recent years, prison escapes from Haiti have become commonplace. Last March, 4,000 people escaped from the two largest civilian prisons in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, including some notorious and dangerous prisoners, following an attack on the site by powerful armed gangs, which control much of the capital.

On May 2, official sources said that the Haitian National Police (HNP) could be receiving reinforcements from foreign troops as early as 23 May, a development that raises both hopes and concerns in the West Indian nation.