Two young convicts broke out of jail “the old fashioned way” on Sunday evening in Leiria, in a third “prison break” of its kind from the same establishment.
As the duo was caught and back behind bars within 24 hours, a spokesman for the syndicate of prison guards revealed that Portugal’s prisons are no longer equipped to fully contain their inmates.
Jorge Alves told Jornal de Notícias that the lack of guards means that prisoners are not properly watched or monitored.
The lack of staff in Leiria’s “prison-school” for young offenders is particularly acute and has meant that three separate escapes have been successful, using the same extremely basic methods.
Prisoners chisel away at a wall in their cell, covering it pro-tem as they work, and then make their escape when the hole is large enough to squeeze through.
In this last case, the youngsters made a rope out of their bedsheets, managing to jump down to a patio below their cell block, from which it was a short hop to the prison fence.
According to JN, the fence is “badly fixed” and the men were able to wriggle underneath it.
JN further described the walls of the prison block known as “Pavilhão da Avó” (grandmother’s pavilion) as being made of stone and clay, and thus relatively easy to excavate.
The latest escape was made between 5pm and 6.30pm on Sunday, when the men were missed as prisoners filed in for dinner.
Both will now face an extra two years’ jail time, with no recourse to remand, writes national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
The last escape from ‘Pavilhão da Avó’ took place in August, and all three escapees were caught within a couple of hours.
