By Morris Karneh, Grand Cape Mount County Correspondent
Monrovia, Oct. 19 (LINA) – Personnel of the Liberia National Police (LNP) and the Bureau of Corrections in Grand Cape Mount County have launched a rigorous search for 35 inmates who escaped from the Robertsport Central Prison on Thursday, October 18, following a jail break at the facility.
The Police have deployed officers along the Robertsport Highway in an effort to re-arrest the escapees.
They have further informed towns and villages along the road to report to the Police of any strange persons in their vicinity.
Speaking to a team of journalists in Robertsport on Thursday after the jailbreak, Correction Officer Tommy Johnson, who was on duty when the incident occurred, said he and a female colleague were overpowered by some inmates at the prison at about 2:00 p.m. while on duty.
Johnson explained that the inmates took away their cell phones and the prison keys during a tense scuffle and placed them in one of the cells, adding: “They threatened to kill us if we attempted raising alarm.”
According to him, the inmates then opened all of the other cells at the prison, as well as the main gate, allowing the other inmates to escape.
He told reporters that there were a total of 92 inmates at the Robertsport Central Prison, out of which 35 escaped.
“Out of fear that they might be seen by passersby when escaping through the main gate, the inmates jumped over the fence and made away with several valuables and money belonging to correction officers,” he narrated.
Since Tuesday of this week, sources told journalists, inmates at the correction facility have been behaving disgruntled and violent over an alleged lack of food.
On Wednesday, the sources explained, the inmates banged the gates of their cells, chanting: « We are hungry; we are hungry; » a situation which claimed the attention of the Joint Security in Robertsport.
LINA MK/PSN/PTK
