Brazil Inmates Flee Jail Amid Mass Riot
Video from a detention facility in Sao Paolo shows a number of prisoners scaling the wall and climbing down a tree to freedom.
2:54pm, Tuesday 13 August 2013
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More than 50 inmates have escaped from a youth detention facility in Sao Paulo following a riot, according to Brazilian news reports.
Around 29 staff members were held hostage for a time, and the facility's director was taken to a hospital in serious condition with cuts to the head and bruised ribs.
A video released by the Estado agency, the country's largest news agency, shows two young men climbing over a wall at the Fundacao Casa facility and climbing down a tree before fleeing through bushes away from the building.
The riot reportedly broke out early on Monday as some of the facility's 103 detainees attempted to break out.
Helicopter images on local TV showed stacks of mattresses burning in the yard and a cloud of smoke billowing from the facility.
Police could be seen searching a residential area close to the facility looking for the escapees.
So far, 17 of the 54 detainees have been caught.
