PR Officials Discover Prison Break When One Escapee Turned Himself In

[Ecuajey]

Puerto Rican Officials Discover Prison Break When One Escapee Turns Self In

June 21, 2002
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THE CANADIAN PRESS. All rights reserved.

PONCE, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Authorities discovered four men had broken out of a maximum security prison in Puerto Rico when one of the escaped convicts turned himself in three days later, police said Thursday.

Police did not know how the four men escaped from the prison in Ponce, but said they were searching for three still at large in this U.S. Caribbean territory.

``There is a count taken of the inmates four times daily, and so we are investigating how the inmates could have escaped,'' said Iraida Cintron, spokeswoman for the island's Department of Corrections.

The four inmates _ Pesivar Serrano Morales, Desdier Feliciano Rios, Emilio Garcia Medina and Erick Santos Cruz, escaped Saturday but were not discovered missing until Tuesday, the police said.

Serrano Morales, 28, of Juana Diaz, turned himself in to police on Tuesday. He was serving a 46-year sentence for kidnapping and other crimes. The others were serving sentences from four to 60 years for various offences including robbery and murder.