António Leitão Amaro admitted that the escape of the five inmates from the Vale de Judeus Prison, in Alcoentre, is worrying.

“It is clear that a cycle of disinvestment in prison services is not unrelated,” said Leitão Amaro, to whom he added the factor of “shortage of human resources in prison services.”

Leitão Amaro stressed that the Minister of Justice “immediately requested” an analysis of the services, “with which it was agreed [that the information would be] delivered” so Rita Alarcão Júdice will provide the necessary clarifications and provide “more complete” information.

The minister said he did not want to anticipate conclusions but ended up stating that this is “a worrying and delicate situation, which deserves the Government’s full attention and a very enlightening communication,” which will be made by the Minister of Justice.

However, at the press conference on Sunday, the Director General of Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP), Rui Abrunhosa, denied that the escape of the inmates was related to the lack of prison guards, claiming that at the time of the escape, there were 33 guards and that this was “a normal shift” for a prison with those characteristics.

When asked about the delay on the part of the Government in taking a position on the escape from Vale de Judeus, the Minister of the Presidency stressed that “the leaders of the public administration provided clarifications to the Portuguese people” and that the Government’s attitude was to “demand an immediate, very rapid assessment of what happened”.

Leitão Amaro also said that apart from the information that the Minister of Justice will provide “in a transparent manner”, there is one aspect that requires discretion, which is “monitoring the process of trying to capture the fugitives”.

Related article: