Prisoner captured after breaking leg while escaping from Ponta Delgada prison

A 30-year-old prisoner escaped from Ponta Delgada prison in the Azores during an afternoon break on Sunday and was captured about half an hour later after breaking his heel, it emerged today.

Frederico Morais, leader of the National Union of Prison Guards, explained to Lusa that a prisoner serving a sentence for drug trafficking escaped from San Miguel prison around 16:00 local time (17:00 in Lisbon) by “jumping over a wall” in the area , where “the tower was deactivated” due to “staffing shortages.”

Also according to Frederico Morais, the prisoner tried to hide in an annex next to a house near the Ponta Delgada prison, but prison guards “immediately searched the area” and the man was captured.

The leader of the National Union of Prison Guards also said the incident “demonstrates the fragility of the prison system in Portugal” and the “very serious situation” at Ponta Delgada prison on the island of Sao Miguel, which has been repeatedly reported.

“At the moment, the Ponta Delgada prison does not even have living conditions, and the prison guards work in inhumane conditions,” said Frederico Morais, noting that last year there were three escape attempts, two of which were “through holes.” “, made on the wall of the prison itself.

“Another prisoner also tried to escape about three to four months ago by jumping over a wall and could not escape only because he broke his leg by falling on the road,” he also said, insisting on the alarm over the situation of “great fragility.” » Ponta Delgada prison buildings.

The Ponta Delgada prison, which houses 128 inmates, “has a capacity of only 117 people,” he noted, adding that the prison has about 60 prison guards and is “short of about 20” specialists.

Frederico Morais also believes that the prison does not have the minimum security conditions required to open, stressing that “the safety of the population is also at stake.”

“The problem of serious staff shortages does not exist only in the Ponta Delgada prison, it exists throughout the country and on the islands,” he said, lamenting the impasse in the construction of a new prison in San Miguel.

In response to Lusa’s interrogation, the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services assured that the prisoner’s escape “from the playground” was “detected and monitored” by the surveillance elements present.

“The inmate never complied with orders to stop as he was caught shortly after jumping the wall to the outside,” according to a note sent to Lusa, which said the inmate had a “broken heel” who was “under treatment” at the regional health department .

According to the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Service, the prisoner will be subject to “disciplinary proceedings” and “the facts regarding the crime of escape will be referred to the prosecutor’s office.”