The tricks of ‘dressing up’ when escaping from the prison of criminals

On May 29, Cesar Ortiz, 36 years old, the leader of the Rotela, the most notorious drug trafficking family Paraguay was “grabbed” by the police when he had only walked a few steps freely around the neighborhood surrounding the Tacumbú National Prison, on the outskirts of the capital Asunción.

About an hour ago, Cesar dressed up as a woman by wearing wigs, manicures, dresses, jewelry and even bras.

He took advantage of a close visit with his wife in a private room and stepped out in a woman’s outfit. In prison surveillance video released later, the inmate walks through the main door of the penitentiary with several bags and wearing a mask.

Cesar is currently being transferred to the Emboscada prison, 50 km away, for security reasons. To prevent the leader from being sent to another prison, many inmates with the gang caused a riot in the prison.

César is serving a three-year, nine-month and twenty-day prison sentence for assault and robbery. His sentence may have been increased through this escape.

Prisoners disguised as women to “break out of prison”

After the incident, the Ministry of Justice of Paraguay is conducting an investigation of the director, prison officials and several security personnel on duty at the main gate of Tacumbú prison. Some have been suspended from work.

This is not the first time a “swapping identity” has taken place in the prison’s visiting room. In 2019, 19-year-old Murat served his sentence at E Tipi Kapası prison, Mersin city, southern Turkey by murder. In June of the same year, Murat “breaks out of prison” by swapping prisoners’ clothes for his twin brother in the visiting room. Murat wears his brother’s clothes and successfully escapes.

Although the prison at the time did not have a facial recognition system to detect the slight differences in the twins’ faces, the guards quickly figured something was wrong.

They alerted the local police to the changes noticed in Murat after his brother’s visit, and a warrant to search the prisoner’s home was promptly issued. When the police stormed into the twin brother’s house, they found Murat. Both brothers were then detained and investigated, but refused to give the reason for the swap.

Just 2 months after the Murat brothers’ incident, in Brazil, another humorous attempt at disguised prison escape was recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A notorious drug dealer sentenced to 73 years in prison in Gericino tried to escape by wearing a silicone mask and wig to disguise himself as his 19-year-old daughter.

Claudino da Silva, 42, is the leader of the gang of the Red Command, one of Brazil’s most brutal criminal organizations. He was visited by his daughter on the last day of August 2019, asking his daughter to take advantage of her pregnancy to sneak in the necessary costume for her father.

After the visit, Claudino, wearing a female silicone mask, a wig and a white T-shirt, went to the prison administration office to retrieve the ID card and belongings left by her daughter. The strange female voice and nervous attitude exposed Caludino’s plan. He had to remove his wig and silicone mask in front of police cameras.

The failed plan made him a laughing stock and received “brick and stone” from the public. “What did he think when he left his daughter behind bars while he escaped. So he deserves to be a father?”, social media accounts commented after the incident was made public. Claudino’s daughter was also later investigated and handled for aiding the prison escape plan.

Before that, in 2013, Claudino and other inmates escaped through the sewers of the current prison itself, as a scene from the movie. The Shawshank Redemption, but in the end was still caught.

The funniest recent prison break attempt in Venezuela took place in January 2017, when a woman was caught trying to get her boyfriend out of prison by packing him in a large suitcase.

Antonieta Robles Souda, 25, went to Puente Ayala prison to visit her boyfriend, José Antonio Anzoátegui, who is serving a nine-year and eight-month sentence for car theft.

She brought their six-year-old daughter and a large pink suitcase, which is not uncommon for family members to stay overnight in a South American prison. Unbeknownst to the guards, Souda and Anzoátegui planned to leave the prison together the next day.

But all that fell apart when the guards noticed the petite woman struggling to pull the suitcase out the door. They stopped Antonieta and asked her to open the suitcase so they could check the contents. With no other choice but to obey the guards’ orders, the woman unlocked the luggage. At this moment, José Antonio was curled up inside the suitcase, covered with clothes.

José was taken back to his cell, his girlfriend was jailed, and the couple’s 6-year-old daughter was placed in the care of social services.

Hai Thu (follow Oddity Central, Noticieros Paraguay, El Universal)