Thousands of inmates escape prison amid deepening Haiti violence
Al Jazeera
At least 12 people reported dead as gangs pushing for prime minister’s removal attack two prisons.
At least 12 people have been killed as thousands of inmates escaped the main prison in Port-au-Prince in deepening gang violence designed to remove Prime Minister Ariel Henry from power.
Gangs led by Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer known as Barbecue, attacked the jail in the country’s capital overnight on Saturday.
Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights said only about 100 of the National Penitentiary’s estimated 3,800 inmates remained inside after the assault.
“We counted many prisoners’ bodies,” he added.
A reporter from the AFP news agency who visited the prison on Sunday said they saw about a dozen bodies outside it. The gate was open and there was “hardly anyone” left inside, they added.
