La Roca did not meet safety standards

The maximum-security prison known as La Roca (The Rock) was the setting for the escape of 19 extreme dangerously prisoners last Monday. Investigations are carried out to determine the main factors for the developing of this act.

List of Fugitives

The international standard indicates that there should be a guide for every two prisoners and, on the day of the flight, in La Roca were 102 prisoners (22 over capacity) and just barely twenty prison guards –six were missing- to cover the checkpoints, including three monitoring points located on the terrace from which an individual can see the prison perimeter and activate the two existing alarms.

According to statements made by the Ministers of Justice and Interior, Johana Pesantes and José Serrano, the prisoners did not only underwent prison guards and locked them in cells designed for intimate visits, but took away the keys to rescue their colleagues who were locked.

To exit the semicircle of the pavilion, the 19 fugitives had to go through doors first, then bypass the first chainlink fence and then going through a second siege of concrete three meters high.

According to the documents of the handover, the pavilion has an access control system, one located on the main floor, equipped with monitors and a control console to open and close doors, and the other, located in the upper floor. There is also a closed circuit system with audio-woofers and cameras.

That’s why the doubts have not cleared out yet and the authorities keep on asking, “Who was in charge of these controls?” Another question is how they escaped from behind and evaded the electric fence, which has a 10,000 volts pulse energizer.