An inmate escaped this Monday morning from the Ponta Delgada Prison, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, and has already been captured, said a source from the National Union of the Prison Guard Corps (SNCGP).
The union president told Lusa news agency that the man’s escape occurred early in the morning, but “an hour later” elements of the prison ended up locating the prisoner, “sitting on a rock in the sea”.
In a statement sent to Lusa, the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP) reported that the situation occurred around 8:55 am today, when the prisoner “climbed through the courtyard net, having reached the exterior of the prison establishment“.
“The situation was always monitored, at the time, by members of the prison guard who fired deterrent shots into the air and recaptured the inmate approximately 500 meters from the establishment”, he explained.
The inmate, who was “immediately recaptured”, is 34 years old and is in preventive detention for the crime of robberyaccording to the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services.
The inmate “was placed under precautionary measure of confinement while the disciplinary process and his assignment to security are ongoing”, he added.
The DGRSP said, however, that the company to which “the works to reinforce the security of external walls of the Ponta Delgada Prison Establishment awaiting the arrival of materialsfrom the continent, to carry out the work”.
Taking into account that the Ponta Delgada Prison “only has one courtyard for open-air recreation, it was determined, during periods of recreation to which inmates are legally entitled, the presence of members of the prison guard” near places “with greater security fragility”, he added.
