Haiti: Inmates killed in 3rd prison break this year

Around a dozen have been killed after inmates escaped from a prison in Haiti on Friday.

Eleven suspected escaped inmates were killed in shootouts with police in the city of Saint-Marc and one inmate was also arrested, law enforcement spokesperson Michel Ange Louis Jeune told the Associated Press.

Unverified footage on social media showed smoke and flames billowing from the prison. Gunfire and explosions could also be heard.

"The situation is under control but the results are catastrophic. All the cops' dormitories have burnt down. The archives have burnt down. They've set everything on fire except their cells," state prosecutor Venson Francois told the Reuters news agency.

Officials fear prison 'mutiny'

The prison in Saint-Marc held more than 500 inmates, officials said.

Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that prison staff had gone on strike to demand better treatment.

Francois told the newspaper that he feared a "mutiny," suggesting that guards may have been complicit in the prison break.

Meanwhile, local government official Walter Montas claimed prisoners had been protesting over a lack of food and poor health conditions.

Gang violence sweeps Haiti

Friday's prison break was the third such incident this year in Haiti.

In March, gangs freed thousands of inmates fromtwo of the country's biggest prisons near the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The coordinated gang attacks led to the eventual resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had traveled abroad to secure Kenya's support to deploy police against armed gangs in Haiti.

A transitional government under acting Prime Minister Garry Conille has now been tasked with restoring order, but just 400 of the 1,000 officers pledged by Kenya as part of a UN-mandated mission have so far arrived in Haiti.

Gangs violence has ravaged Haiti for months, with armed groups controlling large parts of the country. The fighting, which is most intense in the capital Port-au-Prince, has forced some 600,000 people to flee their homes and pushed almost half of the population into severe hunger.

zc/msh (Reuters, AP)