A manhunt is underway for dozens of inmates who staged a prison break – seeing 50 of them crack through security doors and take off on foot.
The mass outbreak unfolded on Monday at the Kutacane Penitentiary in Southeast Aceh Regency, Aceh, in Indonesia.
Dramatic footage from outside the prison showed scores of inmates leaping over fences to run out to a main road connected to the prison.
Another shot showed several prisoners clumsily running across the roof, with tiles moving under their feet as they awkwardly tried to scamper across the prison.
Outside the prison, civilians were seen trying to prevent them from escaping, with some tackling and grabbing the fleeing inmates. Some were seen being caught by prison guards and taken back inside.
As of Wednesday, 32 remain at large, while 21 have surrendered or been captured.
‘We are still actively searching for the remaining fugitives and urge them to surrender. It’s better to turn yourselves in than to face harsher sentences’, Aceh Tenggara Police Chief Doni Sumarsono told local media.
The escape reportedly happened on Monday when all inmates were in the canteen’s queue for food.
Several prisoners were seen clumsily running across the roof of a jail in Indonesia after they managed to escape
Scores of inmates were seen leaping over fences to run out to a main road connected to the prison
Outside the prison, civilians were seen trying to prevent the prisoners from escaping
According to Kutacane Penitentiary warden Andi Hasyim, dozens of inmates escaped by breaking through two security doors at the facility.
The incident is being linked to issues of overcrowding. Officials say the prison can accommodate 100 people, however, it is currently holds around 368, according to local media.
Prison overcrowding is a major problem across the world.
Last year, an audit found a series of security failings at HMP Wandsworth in south-west London.
The jail’s Independent Monitoring Board said a security review identified ’81 points of failure’ and resulted in ‘long overdue’ upgrades being made to CCTV cameras which had not been working for more than a year.
The IMB’s annual report for 2023-24 has concluded the category B Victorian jail was ‘not safe’, with almost 1,000 assaults recorded either between prisoners or on staff – while living conditions have been scathingly criticised.
The board found it was ‘alarmingly easy’ for prisoners to get hold of contraband with cell searches finding phones, drugs, makeshift weapons and alcohol – while the smell of cannabis was said to be ubiquitous.
The shortage of experienced staff – with almost half having been in their job for less than a year – ‘undermined attempts to make the prison run effectively’ and staff absence often reached 50 per cent, it said.
