Five inmates escape from Portuguese maximum security prison via ladder

LISBON – Five inmates, including a Briton, an Argentine and a Georgian, as well as two Portuguese, have escaped from the maximum security Vale de Judeus prison about 30 kilometers north of Lisbon, authorities said on Saturday.

According to the Portuguese prison service, the men, aged between 33 and 61, escaped at 10 a.m. (09:00 GMT) “with help from outside, by throwing out a ladder that allowed the inmates to climb over the wall and get outside.”

The police were immediately deployed to arrest the fugitives, it said.

The two Portuguese escapees were serving 25-year prison sentences for crimes including drug trafficking, criminal association, theft, robbery and kidnapping, the prison service said.

The other three were convicted of crimes such as

Theft, kidnapping and robbery.

“What has failed here is the Portuguese state, which has too few guards and too little investment. Security is at stake,” said Frederico Morais, president of the prison guards' union.

The Portuguese Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the prison system, was not immediately available for comment.

Vale de Judeus is a maximum security prison with a capacity of 560 inmates, the website says. REUTERS