Prison break in Saint Marc, Haiti

Others reported that the prisoners crawled through a window and fled into the darkness.

Fears in certain regions of Haiti escalated at the start of the last month of 2014 when 34 prisoners escaped from the Saint Marc prison and fled into the night. The escapees, 4 of which were quickly recaptured, reportedly cut through their bars with saws to flee the over-crowded jail. Of the escaped was one person awaiting trial for a murder charge.

This has not been the first prison break of the year in Haiti. Just this August, 330 prisoners escaped from another prison in Croix-des-Bouquets after apparently being given weapons to do so by prison guards. In reaction to this new escape, the five prison guards on duty that night have been held in suspicion of assisting the escapees, all of whom, according to the Police Commissioner of Saint Marc, were awaiting trial.

Some sources have blamed the frequency of the escapes on the fact that, not only are Haitian prisons outrageously overcrowded, but many of the inmates have been stuck waiting for trials in a system which can takes many years for prisoners to even see a hearing. This recent escape is just another indictment against the country's court system.

From the incidence in August, many of the escapees still remain at large; it is unknown how many of the 34 who have escaped in this latest event will be recovered. The city of Saint Marc is the country's largest city between Cap-Haitien in the north and Port-au-Prince. The police are now circulating photographs of the escaped around the port city, hope thing find leads on their whereabouts.

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