Prison Officer Terminated Over Mass Prison Break

A prison officer has been terminated as a result of the findings of an internal investigation into the massive prison break on October twelfth.  A group of twenty-eight prisoners escaped from the Belize Central Prison after three prison officers were held hostage. The gang of escapees broke out through the rear of the compound and into the bushes along the highway. The search for the inmates led to a shootout on the Coast Road and escaped prisoner Akeem Tillet was shot and killed during the exchange. An internal investigation by the Kolbe Foundation into the prison break has found that six prison officers were negligent and as a result one has been fired and five have been disciplined. C.E.O. Virgilio Murillo explains. 

Virgilio Murillo, C.E.O., Kolbe Foundation

“We pretty much have completed our investigation from this end and we had taken disciplinary actions against those officers that we found culpable as it relates to the hostage taken turn of escape situation the last time back in October. We did our internal investigation and we are satisfied that the officers who we have disciplined either through suspension, termination or stern warning letters were well deserving of those disciplinary actions. The police continues to do their thing and I am going to leave that to them to figure out whether anybody should be charge criminally and let them do their jobs. But for us we are satisfied as it relates to a station like that reoccurring those particular people will not be the reason for any such thing if it were to happen again.”

Hipolito Novelo

“In terms of those charges, is it because negligence on their part or it is because they played an active role in the breakout?”

Virgilio Murillo

Virgilio Murillo

“Well it was as far as we are concern clearly negligence on their part. Like I said to everybody from day one whenever things like these happen it is either because somebody shortcut the procedure or they may have not followed the procedure any at all. So when these things happen then we need to be real with it. It is certainly a black eye to the prison and we can’t play a blind eye to it.”