12 dead bodies lie in Haiti's main prison, nearly 4,000 prisoners have escaped

 

    The prison is located a few hundred meters from the residence of the President of Haiti

At least 12 people have been killed in an attack by gang members at the main prison in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners have escaped from jail. On Sunday, a representative of AFP and a source of non-governmental organizations revealed this information.

Armed gangs control a large part of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Violence started there again from last Thursday. Gang members attacked the city's main jail last Saturday night.

The gangs say they want to overthrow Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Henry has been in power since the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moisi.

Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights, a human rights organization, said there were 3,800 prisoners in the National Penitentiary. About 100 of them are still in prison.

He also said, "We have counted the bodies of many prisoners."

An AFP correspondent visited the prison on Sunday and found as many as 12 bodies lying outside. Some of them had bullet wounds and some had bullet wounds.

The AFP representative entered the prison himself. Kara's gate was open. Entering there, he saw that there was no one inside.

According to a BBC report about a local journalist, there were about 4,000 prisoners in the prison. Most of them escaped.

In a statement issued by the Haitian government, the attack on the prison was attempted.

According to the statement, several people including prison staff and prisoners were injured in the attack.

The Haitian daily Le Noveliste reported that the gang leader accused of murdering Moisi was being held in the main jail. The prison is located a few hundred meters from the residence of the President of Haiti.

The miscreants were using drones to monitor the prison since last Thursday. And the attack was carried out on Saturday night.

Another prison was also attacked, said Pierre Esperance of the National Network for Defense of Human Rights. There were 1 thousand 450 prisoners. However, it is not known how many people escaped from there.

There have been no elections in Haiti since 2016. The post of president there is vacant. Protesters have demanded Henry's resignation in exchange for a political deal. According to the agreement, the newly elected officials were supposed to take charge after the election by February 7 this year.