More than 130 prisoners escape Brazil jails –officials

BRASILIA—More than 130 prisoners have escaped from prisons in northeastern Brazil in recent days, with 52 inmates breaking out on Sunday, officials said.

The inmates, 15 of whom were recaptured within hours, fled after assaulting two police officers during breakfast at the prison complex, a police spokesman told AFP.

The prisoners were mostly serving time for robbery or violent assault, according to officials.

The escape comes after a break-out late Friday of 82 prisoners, most were serving sentences for murder, robbery and drug trafficking, who escaped from a prison in the northeastern state of Bahia.

The inmates had fled through a hole in the roof of a building in the prison complex. Authorities were only alerted after locals saw numerous men running in disarray from the jail.

The separate incidents highlighted chronic overcrowding in prisons and slow-pace of judicial proceedings. According to official figures, Brazil has 475,000 people in detention, of whom some 43 percent are being held pre-trial.

None of the escaped prisoners from Friday’s incident had yet been recaptured, officials said.