Videos have come to light of prison officers on duty at the time of a jailbreak in Paraguay failing to jump into action at the sound of the alarm.
The videos have been shared as evidence to prove that prison officers were supposedly involved in a jailbreak of 76 inmates that took place January 19 at Pedro Juan Caballero prison, in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay, close to the Brazil border.
Those who broke out were all reported to be gang members of the Primer Comando Capital (PCC), and were classed as ‘highly dangerous’.
PA ImagesThe ordeal was said to be one of Brazil’s largest ever jailbreaks.
Prosecutor Federico Delfino showed the CCTV footage to local media in Paraguay, and explained that the original plan was to help with the jailbreak of 14 key members of the PCC, though other inmates ‘took advantage of situation’.
It’s believed the prisoners broke out through a tunnel that they dug. Twenty bags of earth were later found in prison cells.
PA ImagesAt the time of the incident, Minister of Justice Cecilia Perez told reporters:
This was not the work of one man alone and was not done in a day. It is impossible that nobody knew anything, it cannot be that nobody saw anything.
In one of the videos, the moment the guards supposedly discovered the tunnel the prisoners used to escape can be seen, yet it was apparently another hour and a half before the alarm was raised, according to officials.
The second video shows the moment the alarm was finally raised, yet officers failed to jump into action and seemed to wander round aimlessly.
CENAccording to reports, only 13 of the 76 escapees have been returned to prison.
The PCC is considered the largest drug and arms trafficking gang in Brazil, and reports stated five pickup trucks used by the prison breakers were found burnt out in Ponta Pora on the Brazilian side of the border.
Apparently Paraguayan authorities have admitted that corruption in the prison system appears to be the reason behind the mass jailbreak – 28 prison guards were detained following the incident. Investigations are reportedly still ongoing.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.