[News Boquete] Prison Escapees May Be Headed Our Way

Panama’s La Joyita Prison: 195 Escaped with 69 On the Loose and Some May be Heading to Chiriqui

    REPRINTED FROM NEWSROOM PANAMA

At least 30 of these escapees are dangerous criminals. Be watchful of strangers in your neighborhood and do not pick up hitchhikers.

The Minister of Government, Dinoska Montalvo, revealed this Tuesday that some 195 inmates escaped from La Joyita prison on Monday.  It was also revealed that eight other inmates were injured, as well as three police officers, one of whom was held captive by a group of inmates who later released him.  This is an ongoing story so check in for updates.

Three inmates died inside the prison before the mass escape of prisoners took place. 

Authorities attribute the mass escape to clashes between rival gangs during the transfer of inmates. The riot left three dead and exposed serious security flaws in the prison system.

Panama Still Doesn’t Know Who the Fugitives from La Joyita Are: It was a Faceless Escape

On Monday, June 1, at approximately 2:30 p.m., 195 inmates from the La Joyita Penitentiary Center broke through the security perimeter and went out into the streets.  Information was scarce. The Ministry of the Interior, the governing body of the prison system, and the National Police issued brief statements in the following hours. Neither specified how many inmates had escaped. There were reports of 88, 200, or 400.  No photographs or identities of the fugitives who remain at large have been released. There is no public profile of them, nor any information about the crimes for which they were convicted or prosecuted, or their level of dangerousness.

Police Capture Another 10 Inmates:

The Attorney General’s Office requested a multiple hearing against the first 73 inmates who escaped from the La Joyita Penitentiary Center.  PANAMA reports that it has requested multiple hearings against the first inmates who escaped from La Joyita Penitentiary Center, for the alleged crime of escape. The defendants face charges for the crime against the administration of justice in the form of evasion.

The Attorney General’s Office Requests a Hearing Against 73 Escapees from La Joyita Prison

$85 Million is Projected Government Cost to Build a New Prison Rehabilitation Center: Views of La Nueva Joya prison. 

The country’s prisons are overcrowded by 10,227 people deprived of their liberty.

Amid the crisis generated by the prison break, the Ministry of Government has launched a project for the construction of a prison complex specializing in restitution and rehabilitation.  The ministry launched the public tender for the “Study, Design, Construction and Equipment” of this new center, whose reference price amounts to $85 million.

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