Haiti prison director fired after attack
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-22 09:31

The director of the national penitentiary system was fired after nearly 500 inmates escaped during an armed attack on Haiti's largest prison, officials said Monday.

Claude Eugene Theodat was dismissed after the attack Saturday that sparked a riot and left one guard dead, said Edgar Bruneau, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

Haitian Civil Prison Director Claude Theodate, center, is escorted by Haitian police following an armed breakout at the prison in the Rue Centre neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in this picture taken Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005. Theodate was fired from his position as director of the Haitian Civil Prison, as the Haitian government investigates the escape of 481 prisoners in Saturday's bloody prison break. [AP]

"This was a government decision, that's all I can say," Bruneau said. Theodat could not be reached for comment.

Police and U.N. troops, meanwhile, kept hunting for the fugitives, but there were no reports of success.

Bruneau said the government would create an independent commission of community leaders to investigate the attack, which has added to a climate of lawlessness as officials try to prepare for general elections later this year.

More than 250 people have died in clashes since September when supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide stepped up calls for his return from exile in South Africa. Aristide fled the country Feb. 29 amid a three-week rebellion a year ago.

Witnesses said the attack began when three or four men dressed in black and armed with assault rifles drove up to the prison in a jeep and began firing into the air, touching off a brief gunbattle.

In December, gunmen opened fire outside the prison and inmates living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions rioted.

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