The reforms being implemented among Ismailia’s security leadership following the jailbreak is part of the code of “reward and punishment”, said the Interior Ministry’s media and public relations manager Major Tarek Attia on Monday.
As a result of the escape of six prisoners on Friday from Ismailia Future Prison, the Ismailia prosecution ordered on Monday for the prison warden and the head of the prison’s Investigation Bureau to be held in remand for four days pending investigations, according to state-run Al-Ahram.
Moreover, Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffar decided to remove senior security officials from Ismailia governorate and replaced the chief of security, Ali Al-Azizi, and his deputy on Monday.
Major Essam Saad was appointed as the new security chief, while former officials were transferred to unidentified positions inside the ministry, according to state media reports.
The move came in parallel with ongoing investigations into the jailbreak following strict instructions issued by the interior minister to seek out those responsible for the incident, Attia said in a statement to state news agency MENA.
“The interior minister ordered the regulatory apparatuses in the ministry to not only transfer officials responsible for the jailbreak incident, but to also punish them,” he told MENA.
Mistakes do not mean that there are no great efforts being exerted by police officers to achieve security and stability all over Egypt; however, the ministry is applying the aforementioned “reward and punishment” code to augment security performance to the highest standards, Attia clarified.
On Friday, six inmates fled the Ismailia Future Prison, rioting as they tried to escape and engaging in an exchange of fire with the police, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.
A civilian and an officer were killed in the clashes, which were reported to have lasted for six hours. The civilian, Ahmed Rizk, was said to “have been passing by during the incident” while the officer, a major named Mohamed Al-Husseini, was killed as he chased the inmates. A police conscript was also injured.
Later that same day, local media reported that one of the escapees was arrested. The suspect told authorities that his breakout was facilitated by a secret internal informant who helped them acquire weapons, in exchange for a sum of EGP 100,000, according to the Sunday issue of state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram. Preliminary investigations corroborate this claim.
