Police lead a group of inmates who escaped from Croix-des-Bouquets prison before being caught on Thursday, February 25.

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God Nalio Chery / AP / SIPA

More than 200 prisoners are still "actively sought" by the police in Haiti, following their escape Thursday, during which 25 people were killed, including the director of the prison located in the suburbs of the capital, announced Friday evening the authorities.

“The police are working hard to get them back.

Some have handcuffs, they will not be able to go far, ”said Frantz Exantus, Secretary of State for Communication on Friday evening.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Frantz Exantus explained that more than 400 inmates, out of the 1,542 in the prison, escaped during the escape.

“Twenty-five people died, including six prisoners and the divisional inspector Paul Hector Joseph, who was in charge of the prison,” Frantz Exantus told the media.

"Among those killed, some are ordinary citizens who were killed by the prisoners during their escape," he lamented.

The king of escape shot down

One of the inmates who died as a result of the escape, gang leader Arnel Joseph was gunned down on Friday during a police check 120 km north of Croix-des-Bouquets prison, from which he turned. escaped the day before.

“Arnel Joseph was killed while attacking a police patrol which had stopped the motorcycle he was on.

The police responded and Arnel Joseph is dead, ”detailed Frantz Exantus.

Accused of being the head of one of Haiti's main criminal networks, Arnel Joseph was arrested in July 2019. He had tried, unsuccessfully, to escape for the first time from the Croix-des-Bouquets prison in July 2020, an escape which he had advertised through a video posted on social networks a few days before the attempt.

While serving a sentence for murder, Arnel Joseph had already escaped twice from another prison, in Port-au-Prince, in 2010 and 2017.

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