Justice Minister Rita Júdice spoke for the first time on Tuesday about the escape of five inmates from Vale de Judeus Prison, located in the Lisbon district, on Saturday morning. At a press conference, the minister detailed that the escape took six minutes and was only detected an hour later, noting that the “video surveillance system was operational and functioning” and that the guard responsible for monitoring the images “was at his post.” She warned, therefore, that it was a “meticulously planned escape plan.”
“The escape operation of five inmates began at 9:55 AM with the intrusion of three individuals into the external perimeter of the prison. The inmates’ escape began at 9:57 AM. The last inmate to escape crossed the prison’s outer fence at 10:01 AM. Thus, according to this report, the escape took six minutes and resources were used (such as two ladders) that did not exist inside the prison,” the minister said.
Rita Alarcão Júdice indicated that the escape was “detected by two guards, almost simultaneously, around 11:00 AM,” about an hour later, with one guard in the prison pavilion and the other circulating by vehicle in the inner perimeter when he came across a ladder. “The alert given to the entire corporation occurred between 11:04 AM and 11:08 AM,” she added.
“In the reports received, we saw negligence, we saw ease, we saw irresponsibility, and we saw lack of command. We also saw wrong decisions or absence of decisions in recent years. We have grounds to conclude that the escape of five inmates resulted from a successive chain of very serious, gross, unacceptable errors and failures that we want to be unrepeatable,” she emphasized, while noting that the “video surveillance system was operational and functioning” and that the guard responsible for monitoring the images “was at his post.”
The minister justified not speaking earlier about the escape with the need to give “space for investigation,” having assured that the “Government assumes responsibility for solving this problem.”
“I mandated the General Inspection of Justice Services to urgently initiate an audit of the security systems of all 49 prisons in the country. We must have confidence in the equipment, security systems, and surveillance,” she stated.
The minister also announced that Isabel Leitão, until now deputy director-general of the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP), will take over from Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves, who resigned from the position of director.
Later, in an interview with RTP1, Rita Alarcão Júdice revealed that European arrest warrants were issued against the five fugitives, who carried out “a highly complex process.”
“Let’s not be deceived by the apparent caricature of a ladder leaning against a wall. This escape plan was meticulously devised, everything was thought out and programmed for success,” she said.
The article then goes on to describe reactions from various political parties, including criticisms of prison conditions and security from the Liberal Initiative, Left Bloc, Portuguese Communist Party, and Livre. The Socialist Party defended the previous government’s investments in the prison system, while the Social Democratic Party and CDS-PP praised the Justice Minister’s handling of the situation.
The article concludes by recalling details about the escaped inmates, including their nationalities and the crimes for which they were convicted.