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INDONESIA-PRISON-CRIME
Indonesian police hunt inmates after mass prison break
JAKARTA, May 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – More than 100 inmates escaped from an
Indonesian jail on Sumatra island on Saturday, police said, in the latest
breakout to hit the country’s creaking prison system.
The prisoners fled the jail in Siak district on Sumatra island early in the
morning after rioting and a fire broke out at the detention centre.
Footage on local TV stations showed the facility engulfed in flames.
Authorities launched a massive manhunt and 115 prisoners had been
recaptured by late morning, Riau province police chief Widodo Eko Prihastopo
said.
Dozens of detainees from a prison population of more nearly 650 remained at
large, he added.
“Police with assistance from the army and surrounding community are still
searching for the rest,” Prihastopo said.
The rioting was triggered after guards beat several inmates who were caught
using methamphetamine, police said.
Three detainees suffered stab wounds and a policeman was shot during the
rioting, the local health office told AFP.
Jailbreaks are common in Indonesia, where inmates are often held in
unsanitary conditions at overcrowded prisons.
There was a spate of breakouts in 2013, including one where about 150
prisoners — including terror convicts — escaped from a jail.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1144 hrs