53 Prisoners In Sorong Prison Escape After Sunday's Worship, 8 Successfully Arrested The Rest Wanted By The Police

Seen From Outside The Class IIB Sorong Prison, Southwest Papua

Sorong Police, Southwest Papua, is pursuing 45 inmates who escaped from the Class IIB Sorong Penitentiary (Lapas) in Southwest Papua. A number of outdoor access in the area has been blocked by officers. Sorong City Police Chief Kombes Happy Perdana Yudianto explained, so far the total number of escaped prisoners as many as eight have been arrested. "While the remaining 45 inmates are still in the pursuit process," said Happy in SOUTH, quoted from Antara, Monday, January 8. Joint personnel have blocked a number of points of exit access to other districts in the Sorong City area to narrow the space for prisoners to move. Another effort, continued Happy, was to build coordination with the Polres ranks in the Southwest Papua region to help close access out of the detainees. "“We have closed all access exits, both between districts, ports and airports in Southwest Papua," he said. Polresta Sorong pun belum mengetahui secara tepas penyebab kaburnya para nara pidana, namun pihaknya bersama Lapas Kelas IIB masih terus mendalami kasus itu. "We are still investigating this case," he said. Meanwhile, the Head of the Class IIB Penitentiary (Lapas) Sorong Manuel Yenusi explained that these prisoners escaped from prison after Sunday's service (7/1) at 11.30 WIT. "So after they finished their Sunday service, then after a few minutes, a number of criminal officers were seen trying to grab the officers at the guard door, and managed to escape," he explained. From that incident, he said, six people were arrested on the same day, then two others were arrested on Monday. "So the remaining 45 criminal figures are still being hunted," he said. As a result of the incident, the Sorong Class II Prison implemented a policy by limiting visitors to the prison.

"So we are working with the Sorong Police to arrest criminals who have escaped from prison while we continue to explore the motive for this incident," he said.