- Fears of a coronavirus outbreak caused a massive prison escape in São Paulo
- Authorities report 834 prisoners fled from four jails on Monday
- As of Tuesday, at least 429 inmates had been captured by the Military Police
- The prisoners are part of 34,000 who are allowed to leave the jails for work
- The inmates are part of a program that allows them to be with their families for seven days while they work before they have to report back to jail
- Justice Department scrapped the plan over concerns that they could return to prison infected with coronavirus
- Brazilian state health departments reported 301 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday
- Brazil confirmed its first coronavirus-linked death Tuesday, a 62-year-old man who died Monday
More than 800 inmates broke out of four prisons in São Paulo, Brazil, after the Justice Department announced it was postponing a work program that allowed inmates to leave jails amid the coronavirus panic.
The massive jailbreak came as Brazil confirmed its first coronavirus-linked death Tuesday, a 62-year-old man who died Monday afternoon at a private hospital in São Paulo. Health officials said he had suffered from diabetes, hypertension and prostatic hyperplasia.
Authorities have now recaptured around half of the 834 that fled on Monday.
Video footage showed the disturbing moment some of 577 men escaped from the Progression Center Penitentiary in the São Paulo municipality of Mongaguá. Officials reported that 172 were recaptured.
A separate cellphone video recorded on the grounds of jail's soccer pitch showed various inmates milling around before fleeing.Prison officials reported that nine prison guards were held hostage during clashes inside the jail that has a capacity of 1,700 detainees, but holds close to 2,800, according to Brazilian news outlet G1.
The breakouts occurred after the Justice Department announced it was postponing a work program that allowed inmates to leave jails because government officials feared that they would return infected with coronavirus and spread it the deadly disease to other prisoners.
At the Progression Center Penitentiary in Porto Feliz, 178 prisoners reportedly fled during the prison riot, but all were apprehended and returned to the detention center as of 8:30am local time.
Officials, however, did not produce a final tally of how many inmates barged out of the facility after prisoners set various fires across the facility before police and prison guards responded with tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the violence.
Another 75 prisoners fled the Dr. Edgar Magalhães Noronha jail in the municipality of Tremembé before they were later arrested.
The Sumaré Resocialization Center in Sumaré reported that four of its 218 detainees were caught A brawl at the Mirandópolis Penitentiary left nine inmates injured, including two who were hurt while fighting among themselves. No prisoners escaped from the facility.
'Faced with a [coronavirus] problem, the government acted in the manner of choosing the one that was least harmful to society,' said Nivaldo Restivo, secretary of the Penitentiary Administration. 'The people of São Paulo need to be preserved above any other option.'
The government of São Paulo has been prudent with its handling of the coronavirus as it has confirmed 152 cases.
Brazilian state health departments reported 301 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday, although Health Ministry has documented only 234.
Hundreds of prisoners broke out of four Brazilian jails on Monday, the day before their day-release privileges were due to be suspended over the coronavirus outbreak, Sao Paulo state prison authorities and local media reported.The Sao Paulo state prison authority said it could not say how many inmates had escaped as it was “still tallying the exact number of fugitives.” Local media reported that as many as 1,000 had fled from four jails – Mongaguá, Tremembé, Porto Feliz and Mirandópolis – ahead of the lockdown. A video on social media showed a long stream of prisoners purportedly fleeing a prison. Reuters was unable to verify the veracity or location of the video. The Sao Paulo state prison authority said “acts of insubordination” had taken place at the jails ahead of the suspension of the day-release program. The suspension was necessary, it added, because 34,000 convicts would be returning to jail and “would have a high potential to install and propagate the coronavirus in a vulnerable population, generating health risks for servers and custodians.” It said law enforcement were “taking care of the situation.” Sao Paulo state is home to the First Capital Command, Brazil’s most powerful prison gang, which is expanding quickly across the country and in neighboring nations. It traffics guns, drugs and other contraband. Brazil’s overstuffed prisons often see deadly prison riots between rival gangs.