More than 400 inmates escaped and 25 people lost their lives during a prison break in Haiti, authorities said Friday of the country’s largest and bloodiest prison break in a decade, in which the prison director and the head of a powerful gang died.

Some believe that Thursday’s escape at the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison in northeast Port-au-Prince was intended to free gang leader Arnel Joseph, who was the most wanted fugitive in Haiti until his arrest in 2019 on charges that they included rape, kidnapping, and murder.

Joseph was riding a motorcycle through the Artibonite area in the town of L’Estère on Friday, a day after his escape, when he was spotted at a checkpoint, police spokesman Gary Desrosiers told The Associated Press. Joseph drew a gun and was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police, he added.

Joseph had imposed his dominion on the Village de Dieu, a poor neighborhood in the center of Port-au-Prince, and other communities, including parts of Artibonite, Haiti’s largest department.

Authorities have not given many details about the escape, except that 60 inmates were recaptured and that an investigation is underway. Secretary of State Frantz Exantus said authorities have created several commissions to investigate who organized the escape and why. Among the deceased is the prison director, identified as Paul Joseph Hector.

Residents who declined to be identified for fear of being killed told the AP that they saw armed men who fired at prison guards Thursday before the inmates escaped from Croix-des-Bouquets penitentiary.

The prison is known for the 2014 escape of more than 300 of the 899 inmates at the site. Some believe the purpose on that occasion was to free Clifford Brandt, the son of a prominent businessman, who had been imprisoned since 2012 for allegedly kidnapping the adult children of a rival businessman. Brandt was captured two days later near the border with the Dominican Republic.

After the 2014 breakout, officials said they were taking steps to tighten security at the prison that Canada built in 2012, including installing security cameras and placing ankle monitors on the most dangerous inmates. It was unknown at the moment whether any of these measures were adopted.

When the escape occurred on Thursday, the prison held 1,542 inmates, almost double its capacity.

The largest escape in Haiti’s recent history occurred after the devastating 2010 earthquake in which more than 4,200 inmates escaped from the infamous National Penitentiary in central Port-au-Prince.

President Jovenel Moïse tweeted on Friday condemning the most recent leak, calling on people to remain calm. He noted that the Haitian National Police “received the order to adopt all measures to bring the situation under control.”

For her part, Helen La Lime, special representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Haiti, expressed in a statement her deep concern about the riot and the prison break.

“I encourage the police to expedite investigations into the circumstances surrounding this incident, to redouble their efforts to recapture the fugitives, and to strengthen the security of the prisons in the country,” he added. “This prison break underscores the problem of prolonged preventive detention and prison overcrowding that persists as a worrying issue that must be urgently addressed by the Haitian authorities.”

Categorized in: