Antônio Cotrim / LUSA
The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and the Minister of Justice, Rita Júdice
The Ministry denied an escape attempt, but calling guards on leave and vacation (which happened) is only legally possible to respond to order and security situations. Prison guard leaders say there was a “political construction of reality”.
This Wednesday, the union of prison guard managers contested the version of the Ministry of Justice (MJ) that occurred in the Coimbra prison establishment over the weekend, pointing out to the guardianship a “political construction of reality”.
In a statement released this Wednesday, the Union Association of Heads of the Prison Guard Corps (ASCCGP) lists a series of facts that, according to the union structure, go against the MJ and the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP), including the summoning of around 30 guards who were on leave and vacations, after, “at the local level, whoever had the right” understood “to be faced with the existence of this escape attempt.”
The union association also recalls that a call for prison officers to take days off and vacations It is only legally possible to respond to order and security situations. The managers also point out that a contingent from the Prison Intervention and Security Group (GISP) was activated at the location, “a procedure proposed by analysis of the event by the Security Services Directorate and exclusively authorized by the general director of the DGRSP”.
The ASCCGP also states that “by coincidence” the new director general of the DGRSP was director of the Coimbra prison establishment, “therefore, he will have a detailed and in-depth knowledge of the context in which ‘something’ will have taken place, let’s say, at the very least important.”points out. “Finally, it is also clear that different criminal police bodies were called. What then gave rise to all these procedures?” asks the union association, which points out to the MJ a “political construction of reality”.
The MJ denied on Monday that there had been an attempted escape from Coimbra prison, saying that the only evidence was a anonymous phone call and that preventive measures were only taken out of caution.
In clarification, the MJ and DGRSP highlighted that no evidence, evidence or indications of any attempt to escape were collected, the only “concrete fact” being the anonymous phone call “whose origin is being investigated”.
The Prison Guard Corps Union had announced on Sunday that 30 guards and an intervention team were deployed to the Coimbra prison, after six inmates linked to the largest criminal organization in Brazil, Primeiro Comando Capital (PCC), they would try to escape.
