PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP):
About 30 prisoners escaped from a jail in a provincial city north of the Haitian capital, a police official said yesterday.
The male prisoners managed to cut the bars of the jail in Saint Marc, jump to an adjacent Catholic church, and flee into the night, said Charles Roubins, an investigator with the Haitian National Police.
Authorities were still attempting to determine the number of prisoners who escaped and none have been recaptured. Details about the men who escaped were not immediately available.
One officer has been detained on suspicion of aiding the escape, Roubins said.
Saint Marc is a port city about 60 miles (100 kilometres) north of the capital and is the largest city between Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien.
Haitian prisons are notoriously overcrowded and rife with problems, with many inmates spending years in pre-trial detention.
About 330 prisoners, including many both charged and convicted of serious crimes, escaped in August from a prison in Croix-des-Bouquets using weapons apparently smuggled in by guards. Most have not been recaptured.