More than 50 inmates in an Indonesian prison staged an escape as officers scrambled to stop them.
Video showed the prisoners jumping over fences, running down the main road near the prison gates and even climbing on the roof in a bid to escape Kutacane Penitentiary in southeast Indonesia.
The prison break happened on Monday when the prisoners were lined up for food inside the canteen, it’s been reported.
Good Samaritans were seen attempting to stop the criminals from escaping by tackling and grabbing them as they fled.
32 escapees are still on the run, but 21 have been brought back into the jail.
Police Chief Doni Sumarsono said: ‘We are still actively searching for the remaining fugitives and urge them to surrender. It’s better to turn yourselves in than to face harsher sentences.’
Overcrowding is thought to have contributed to the escape plan – officials said Kutacane Penitentiary is made to hold 100 inmates, but currently holds more than 350.
El Salvador also has issues with prison overcrowding, which resulted in the construction of ‘Latin America’s biggest prison’ as leader Nayib Bukele launched his purge against the country’s gangs.
Able to hold 40,000 inmates – nearly half the entire UK prison population – the facility is made up of eight sprawling pavilions.
Its cells hold 65 to 70 prisoners each. None receive visits.
Many human rights organisations have spoken out against the facility, and Bukele’s security policy more broadly.
A report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), published in September 2024, warned that the number of inmates at the prison was much higher than the latest official figures released, and that overcrowding could reach 133%.
They concluded that each inmate had an average space of just 0.60sq meters, a violation of international standards.
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