Eleven prisoners shot dead during prison escape in Haiti

A prison break in the Saint-Marc region of western Haiti sparked clashes on Friday that left 11 inmates dead, police said.

Haitian police spokesman Michel Ange Louis Jeune said the clash occurred as inmates tried to escape from the prison, which houses 540 prisoners.

Jeune confirmed that 11 prisoners died in the incident and one prisoner was recaptured.

The local newspaper “Le Nouvelliste” reported that prison guards had gone on strike for better working conditions. This may have played a role in the outbreak.

Government Commissioner Vension Francois expressed concern about a possible “mutiny” and suspected possible complicity on the part of the guards.

Videos circulating on social media showed smoke and fire pouring out of the prison, and gunshots were reported nearby.

It is not known how many prisoners were in the prison at the time of the escape.

This is the third prison break in Haiti this year. In March, gangs managed a mass escape from the country's two largest prisons in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The breakout was part of a series of attacks that eventually led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Haiti's prisons are overcrowded and unsanitary. The country's broken justice system often leaves prisoners in pretrial detention for years, and a United Nations report found that only 1,892 of Haiti's 11,816 prisoners were convicted of a crime last year, AA writes.