More than a week ago, on Monday, October 10, a total of 28 prisoners escaped from the Belize Central Prison located in Hattieville. Since then, law enforcement officers have been working to locate these men and to get them back into custody. Up to Wednesday, October 21, 2020, eighteen men had been recaptured and one, Akeem Tillett, was unfortunately shot and killed by law enforcement officers on the Coastal Road.
Three more men were found by that date. They include Santos Lopez, a 26-year-old Guatemalan national, who was recaptured on the Valley of Peace Road. Elroy Banner was reportedly caught in the area of Hopkins Village, Stann Creek district. The third person, Albert Banner, is currently back in custody but was not captured like the others. Police say that Banner surrendered himself at the Hattieville Police Station and allegedly told cops on duty that he did so because he was hungry.
The nine men remaining are Carlos Montejo, Elser Oseguera, Jaroud Lamb, Eutychus Nunez, Kendale Flores, Michael Faux, Luke Bowen, Erwin Lanza, and Enrique Martinez. They are still being sought by police. A number of the men who have been recaptured to date have already been arraigned for escaping from prison. A majority of them have pleaded guilty to the charge and been sentenced to a year, a sentence set to run concurrently with their existing sentences. On the other hand, a smaller number of the escapees pleaded not guilty stating that they were forced to escape by the masterminds of the jailbreak.
