Inmate Escapes from Roumieh Only Hours after Charbel's Visit

Another inmate has managed to escape from the Roumieh prison, which is witnessing dire conditions, only a few hours after a visit by caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to the facility.

“Inmate Abdullah al-Hshimeh has escaped from the building housing convicts at Roumieh prison,” state-run National News Agency reported.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) clarified that Hshimeh was jailed for robbery and not “terrorism” charges.

Earlier on Monday, Charbel inspected Roumieh prison's courtroom, which he said was ready to start the trial of inmates.

The caretaker minister lamented that the government had paid millions to rehabilitate the prison and that no major change was made.

Last week, Charbel said that the “crisis in Lebanon's central prison is chronic.”

The caretaker minister pointed out that there are no doors inside the prison, saying: “We have been demanding for the last two years for the installation of modern doors and gates but no response was given.”

Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks and escalating riots in recent years as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.

In January, a major escape attempt from Roumieh prison was thwarted after guards found ropes linking the observation tower to the facility's outer wall.

Around a month later, authorities foiled a plot by inmates to escape through a tunnel they were digging.

In October 2012, a scandal erupted after it was reported that three Fatah al-Islam prisoners had escaped from the jail the month before.

In another major prison break from Roumieh, five inmates from the terror network managed to escape in August 2011.