11 prisoners escape at work in Mayom County

Police in Mayom County of Unity State are intensifying search for 11 criminal suspects who escaped from a remote area on May 12, and a local prison official has been arrested.

The state prosecutor general, Samuel Mathuk Pouk, said the accused persons who had been remanded pending trial, escaped from a forest where they were taken to labor.

Mathuk said on Thursday the prison director, Colonel Gattuor Thak, has been arrested over the incident, and he is under investigation by the state authorities.

Prosecutor General Mathuk said search efforts for the prison escapees are underway.

“What happened was a mass escape of eleven prisoners from the county prison,” he told Eye Radio.

“The prison director was arrested and held responsible for the escape of the eleven prisoners. He is under investigation by the state authorities, and search efforts are ongoing for the escaped prisoners.”

The prison escape occurred a few days after the South Sudan judiciary established a mobile court to resolve accumulated criminal cases in the area where justice is largely administered through customary laws.

The court will be present in the remote county until May 24, to decide forty-two different criminal cases including rape, robbery, revenge killing, and cattle raiding.

The tribunal is made up of two judges, two defense lawyers, an indictment lawyer, a prosecutor and three investigators.