Haiti prison break kills 12, exposes growing violence and humanitarian crisis

PORT-AU-PRINCE: In the coastal town of Saint-Marc in central Haiti on Friday, the police authorities reports that the prisoners broke out of the prison. The incident has left 12 people dead and this has been the third jail break in the recent months.

This incident happened while the authorities were struggling to suppress the gang violence. It is to be noted that the inmates escaped from the prison and this incident further led to a chaotic situation and significant destruction.

Several videos and images have been making rounds on the social media that depicts the prisoners climbing the walls, and later the smoke can be seen followed by the noise of explosions.

Mayor Myriam Fievre said, this is the third similar incident in Haiti in recent months amid a prolonged humanitarian crisis that has been fuelled by gang violence.

Further the State Prosecutor Venson Francois stated that the situation is under control, but the inmates have burnt down the cops’ dormitories and archives. However, they did not harm their cells.

He further said despite the situation being under control, the results are catastrophic. Also, the prison had approximately 540 inmates housed in at the time.

While, a local government official Walter Montas, shared that this incident happened out of protest as the inmates were not provided with food and they were facing several health issues so they broke out of the jail in rage.

Additionally, before this 3rd incident of jail break in Haiti this year. The earlier incidents in March involved gangs freeing thousands of inmates from the two largest prisons in Port-au-Prince, contributing to a state of emergency and the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Notably, the prisons in Haiti are overcrowded, as of June the number of prisoners was reduced to around 7,500 from 12,000, after the episodes of previous escapes.

As a result of poor conditions and shortages of necessities have led to 109 deaths inside the prisons this year, the data from the U.N revealed the number.

Currently, the ongoing violence in Haiti has left 600,000 people without shelters and 5 million facing severe hunger.

While facing the crisis, Haiti requested for deployment under the security mission that has been supported by the U.N., Kenya pledged to send 1,000 police officials out of which only 400 have arrived so far.

The officials stated that this situation has highlighted the ongoing struggles of Haiti, which include lack of resources and less police force.