Tuesday, February 12 at midday, all prisoners in the prison of the commune of Aquin (South Department) escaped, information confirmed by Commissioner Nazaire Frédéric, the National Police of Haiti (PNH).
Taking advantage of an anti-government demonstration in front of the Aquin police station, which is in the same place as the prison and while the demonstrators were throwing stones at the police station, mobilizing all the attention of the police, the prisoners who had just taken a shower and refused to return to their cell, took advantage of the diversion to escape.
Without ammunition, the security officers in this prison called for reinforcements. Barricades erected on the road leading to Aquin delayed the arrival of reinforcements from Les Cayes, who were unable to arrive in time to disperse the protesters and prevent the escape of the 78 prisoners (63 were in pretrial detention), said Chief Inspector Ralph Stanley Brice, of the PNH, who announced the initiation of an investigation to determine the exact circumstances of this escape.
