By Corrections1 Staff
BOGOTA, Colombia — Two inmates are on the run after getting a CO drunk and escaping from a Colombian jail.
BBC News reports that Colombian police are searching for inmates Jhon Gutiérrez Rincón and Olmedo Vargas after they escaped from the La Picota jail. The inmates reportedly got a CO drunk and convinced him to let them leave on the promise that they’d return with more alcohol.
Colleagues of the CO said the officer’s breath smelled of alcohol, and he refused to be breathalyzed. Prison authorities said it’s common for alcohol to be homebrewed inside the facility despite frequent checks.
Officials also said that there were no damage to the facility’s structure or its gates, leading them to assume the CO colluded to help the inmates escape.
Prison director Col. Germán Ricaurte told Colombia’s FM radio station that there had been “a lack of professionalism” in which an official “seems to have broken security protocols and this facilitated the escape.”
“The weakness of this official meant that he ingested this liquor and these inmates took advantage of that to convince him that they needed to leave [the prison],” Ricaurte said.