Coimbra Prison Establishment
30 guards were deployed in time to stop a possible escape attempt by members of the Primeiro Comando Capital (PCC), the largest criminal network in Brazil. “It starts to be very worrying.”
The Prison Guard Corps Union revealed this Sunday that 30 guards and an intervention team were called into Coimbra prison, following a warning that six prisoners linked to the criminal organization would try to escape.
“The evasion attempt did not happen because we detected, through the information and security system, which worked, that there were six individuals who belong to Brazil, who are imprisoned there, who were going yesterday [sábado] trying to escape from the Coimbra prison”, the president of the National Union of the Prison Guard Corps (SNCGP) told Lusa news agency.
According to Frederico Morais, all security mechanisms were activated and called 30 elements of the prison staff, some on leave and others on vacation, and a team from the intervention group was called to be on standby at the Cuiabá State Prison in case it was necessary to intervene, which was not necessary.
“The guards came, searched the cells of these individuals, detected some drugs, cell phones were also seized (…) and we managed to prevent them from escaping from the prison,” said Frederico Morais.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP) confirmed that there was “no attempt to escape from the Coimbra Prison Establishment”.
“As part of the daily and permanent surveillance and security work, a situation was detected that could indicate preparatory acts for a hypothetical evasion attempt. In these circumstances, security measures and coordination with criminal police bodies were taken and considered appropriate and not subject to public sharing”, says the DGRSP in a written response.
Lack of security worries (again)
Speaking to Lusa, Frederico Morais said that prison guards are worried, once again, about the lack of security.
“This information reached us. Thank God, because if it hasn’t arrived, yesterday [sábado] we could have a catastrophe in the Coimbra Prison Establishment, because we are talking about extremely violent individualsjust look at their history in Brazil, and they would not look for ways to escape from jail”, said the president of the SNCGP.
Frederico Morais said that prison guards are eager to install cell phone signal inhibitors in prisons, as stated by the Minister of Justice, Rita Júdice, and the general director of (DGRSP), Isabel Leitão.
“This is a case in which, if we had the inhibitor, they would not have been able to plan the supposed escape attempt that would take place and here it is necessary to praise the promptness of the members of the prison staff who gave up everything, including being on vacation to guarantee the security in the prison”, he highlighted.
Asked about the detainees’ reaction when the guards entered the cells to carry out the searches, Frederico Morais said that he was told that “They were very surprised.”
The president of the union asked the DGRSP to transfer “as quickly as possible” these six detainees from Coimbra to the Monsanto prison, in Lisbon, “the only high security prison establishment in the country that already has, in itself, a network inhibitor where cell phones don’t work.”
“We really have to do something, because at the moment Portugal already has many prisoners from the Primeiro Comando da Capital (violent criminal organization), already It starts to be very worrying for us”, he said, appealing to the Minister of Justice to “see and hear this news with eyes and ears of great concern” because they are “people who committed extremely violent crimes in Brazil”.
