The Government of Brazil decided to toughen confinement conditions in the country's federal prisons after
the "unusual" escape of two prisoners from a prison considered "maximum security"
, which put 300 agents mobilized in a non-stop hunt to recapture them.
The Secretary of Penal Policies of the Ministry of Justice, André García, explained in a press conference that, after these escapes, it was decided to
suspend visits in federal prisons
and for prisoners to remain in their cells for the next five days.
These measures were adopted after
two prisoners escaped on Wednesday from the Mossoró federal prison
, in the northeast of the country, in what García described as an "unusual event."
This is
the first escape recorded in one of the country's five federal prisons
, all of which are "maximum security" and where prisoners considered "highly dangerous" are housed, mostly members of criminal organizations.
The Mossoró federal prison, considered "maximum security."
Photo EFE
In fact, both fugitives are accused of belonging to the so-called
Red Command
, a powerful drug gang from Rio de Janeiro with ramifications for other types of crimes, which has tentacles in several South American countries.
The first indications collected by investigators indicate, according to the local press, that
the prisoners had stolen some tools
from the prison yard where repairs were being carried out.
With these tools, both inmates
made a hole in the ceiling of the cell
they occupied and escaped outside and then ran a distance and cut the perimeter fence of the complex.
One of the inmates who escaped was identified as Rogério da Silva Mendonça, who is sentenced to 74 years in prison.
The other is Deibson Cabral Nascimento, with sentences set at 81 years.
Both had been in Mossoró since September 2023, when they were transferred from another prison after having participated in a rebellion that ended with five deaths, three of them beheaded.
García said that he could not "detail" the actions that the Police carried out to capture the fugitives, but he assured that
"all available means"
were being used and that Interpol was even notified, given the possibility that the two men They intend to leave the country.
"Relaxation" and "facilitation": the hypotheses behind the escape in Brazil
Regarding the escape, García raised doubts about the surveillance controls in the prison, and cast a pall of suspicion on the behavior of the guards.
Police leave the Mossoró federal prison, considered "maximum security."
Photo EFE
"If the security protocols had been respected, there would be no possibility of an escape," the official stated. "We do not rule out any of the possibilities: relaxation [of the guards], facilitation [of the escape by the guards ] or whatever the investigation indicates. I can't say anything else," García added.
The Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, later specified that 300 agents from various police forces, supported by three helicopters, are participating in the search for the fugitives.
He also announced that it was decided to modernize the entire security infrastructure of federal prisons, after verifying that
some prison surveillance cameras "were not working properly
. "
Likewise, an investigation was opened in order to establish whether there was any degree of internal complicity for the escape and the directors of the Mossoró prison were also "suspended" from their duties.
In Brazil, according to official data, at the end of 2023 there were 832,300 people imprisoned, in a prison system that only has capacity for 600,000 detainees, of which about 1,500 are held in federal prisons.