Crime - Two men manage to escape from Berlin's penal institution
Two men have managed to escape from a psychiatric hospital in Berlin-Reinickendorf. The incident took place in the early morning in the Wittenau district, the police said.
A search is now underway for the escapees. No further details were initially given. According to a report in the newspaper "B.Z.", the men are said to have threatened security staff and are considered dangerous. The prison for mentally ill offenders is a secure hospital where mentally ill or addicted offenders are housed.
There are currently several cases of escaped offenders: On 14 December, an inmate at Mannheim Prison used a doctor's visit to the hospital in the neighboring city of Ludwigshafen to escape. On October 30, a prisoner from Bruchsal Prison escaped during a supervised excursion to a quarry pond in Germersheim, using a tool to break his ankle cuff. He is also still on the run.
A convicted offender who did not return to his ward on December 11 in Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, after an unaccompanied exit within the grounds of a psychiatric clinic, turned himself in to a police station in Rhineland-Palatinate a few days later.
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The men who escaped from the psychiatric hospital in Berlin-Reinickendorf were reportedly dangerous, threatening security staff before their escape. This incident brings the total number of escaped offenders in recent months, including one from a correctional facility in Bruchsal and another from a jail in Ludwigshafen, both in Germany. The German police are currently searching for the escaped men, who may seek refuge in Berlin's notorious criminal underworld. Mental health resources within the prison system are a critical aspect of the rehabilitation and reintegration process for offenders, but inadequate resources and funding can exacerbate mental health issues and increase the risk of incidents like this.
Source: www.stern.de
