The liberal and socialist prison officers’ unions say that the 4 prisoners that attempted to escape from Wortel Prison in Antwerp Province were able to make a hole in the wall of their cell due to the dilapidated state of the jail. The 4 prisoners crawled through the hole they had made in one of their cell walls before attempting to climb over the prison fence using sheets that they had tied together. However, they were caught as they attempted to scale the fence.
How were prisoners at Wortel Jail able to make a hole in their cell wall unnoticed?
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In scenes reminiscent of films and series such as ‘The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Prison Break' 4 prisoners at Wortel Jail were able to remain unnoticed as they made a hole in the wall of their cells. But how is it possible that the prison officers at the jail failed to notice what was going on?
The unions that represent the prison officers at Wortel Jail say that this is largely due to the dilapidated state of the prison. Eddy De Smedt of the liberal public sector union VSOA told VRT News that “Wortel Prison is of course a very old jail. As the brick walls are in a poor condition, a few years ago plastic panels were put up to cover the walls”.
"One way or another the prisoners were able to pull one of the panels loose from the wall”, Jef Tax of the social public sector union ACOD told VRT News.
"Behind the panel they were able to prize out the mortar from between the bricks. This loosened the bricks and they were able to make a hole. In some of the walls the mortar has perished so much that you can get it out using a pen. Whenever their cell was inspected the prisoners put the plastic panel back so that no one noticed what they were doing”.
Checks on other cells
In the wake of the attempted prison break other cells at the prison have been checked. "We checked whether there were loose panels in other cells. One panel was found to be loose, but there was not yet a hole in the wall. The Buildings’ Agency will now carry out works to ensure that all the panels are firmly attached to the walls so that this incident will not be repeated”.