Sintra’s Linhó jail currently has one prison guard per pavilion (there are two) watching a total of 600 prisoners. The situation has been highlighted by the Syndicate of Prison Guards which has warned repeatedly of overcrowding in jails and lack of sufficient personnel to avoid yet another prison break along the lines of the last, in which five men were able to clamber over prison walls with the most rudimentary equipment and reach freedom. Four of those men are still ‘at large’. Frederico Morais, president of the prison guards union, warns: “The lack of guards is enormous. We will have to ration the activities of prisoners or we will have another catastrophe equal to the escape from Vale de Judeus”.
Syndicate of prison guards denounces new ‘escape attempt’ danger
Linhó jail. Image: Lusa
