Indonesian security forces have rounded up most of the inmates who escaped during a mass breakout from an overcrowded prison on Sumatra island, police said Saturday.
About 200 inmates broke out of the jail in Pekanbaru city, on Sumatra Island, after they were let out of their cells to pray on Friday.
Almost 80 were quickly recaptured after the incident, and on Saturday the majority had been rounded up.
“So far 171 inmates have been recaptured or surrendered willingly, we are still unable to determine the exact number of the inmates who escaped,” local police spokesman Guntur Aryo Tejo told AFP.
Amateur footage broadcast on local TV stations showed scores of men, some wearing sarongs, scurrying through the gates of the Sialang Bungkuk prison on Friday, with no sign of officials in pursuit.
Most prisoners were recaptured while still near Pekanbaru. Dozens of the escaped inmates headed directly to another prison where they handed themselves in.
Tejo said the inmates told the police they decided to escape due to inhumane conditions in the prison. (AFP)