Thursday afternoon a strong tension reigned in the prison for women of Cabaret, located in the locality of Titanyen in the North of Port-au-Prince when a group of heavily armed men coming from Canaan, attacked the Prison for women into which they entered, favoring the escape of several dozen detainees (estimate of testimonies).

At the time of the attack there were 280 women in detention in this prison with a capacity of 300 detainees

Police officers from the Titanyen sub-police station went to the scene. Taking advantage of the downsizing, Canaan gang members took the opportunity to attack the police station and set it on fire. A police officer is said to have died during this attack.

Inspector General Pierre René François of the Directorate of Penitentiary Administration (DAP) confirmed the tense situation in the prison and the loss of contact with the detention center specifying "the attempts of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) to regain control of the prison have come up against opposition from armed bandits [...] I am told that some police officers have been hit by bullets [...] We do not yet have precise information on what happened past. We must first regain control of the prison center."

So far the authorities concerned have not yet confirmed the number of detainees on the run or communicated the human toll or on the course of this attack followed by escape...

Note that this is the first time in Haiti that women have escaped from prison.

To be continued...

SL/ HaitiLibre