Police have reported that 11 inmates were slain in shootouts following their escape from a prison in central Haiti

Police reported that inmates escaped from a penitentiary in the central Haitian coastal town of Saint-Marc on Friday, as the government struggles to address the pervasive gang violence in the country.

In a news briefing in Port-au-Prince, Michel Ange Louis Jeune, a spokesman for Haiti’s National Police, reported that eleven suspected escaped detainees were slain in shootouts with police.

I did not receive any additional information from him regarding the number of detainees who escaped.

According to local media, gunfire was audible in the vicinity of the Saint Marc penitentiary.

It was not readily apparent how many offenders the prison housed.

This is Haiti’s third prison escape of the year. Thousands of inmates were released in March after gangs stormed the country’s two largest institutions in the capital of Port-au-Prince as part of a coordinated operation that ultimately resulted in Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation.

On Thursday, the police spokesman also introduced an inmate who was accused of evading custody earlier this year. The inmate was apprehended in conjunction with 14 other individuals, including three police officers, during a distinct anti-crime operation.

The Haitian judicial system is dysfunctional, resulting in pre-trial detentions that can last for years, and prisons are severely overloaded.

Additionally, convicts in Haitian prisons are dying from malnutrition-related maladies due to a chronic shortage of water and food.

A variety of armaments, such as assault rifles confiscated in operations unrelated to the most recent prison escape, were also displayed by the police.