[WORLD NEWS ★]
FORTY MEN ESCAPE FROM BRAZILIAN PRISON
(P1) Forty INMATES escaped from a prison in the eastern Brazilian city of Recife after a bomb was used to blow a hole in an external wall, authorities there say.
(P2) Most of the prisoners were captured after a MANHUNT through local streets lasting several hours, but two were killed and one remains AT LARGE.
(P3) It is the second mass BREAKOUT in the area in a week.
(P4) On Wednesday, 53 men escaped from another jail on the city OUTSKIRTS and only 13 of them have since been found.
(P5) Social media images broadcast on Brazilian TV captured the moment when the explosion ripped through the external wall of the Frei Damiao de Bozanno prison.
(P6) Minutes before a man in the street walked up to the prison wall, left a package and moved quickly away.
(P7) Seconds after the blast, dozens of men are seen leaping through the hole in a cloud of dust.
(P8) They FANNED OUT into the residential streets, many running into houses.
(P9) The prison guard’s UNION said it had warned the authorities that a breakout was IMMINENT.
(P10) It said that at the time of the explosion, only half the observation towers at the prison were manned because of staff shortages.
(P11) The union said that the state of Pernambuco in which Recife lies has little more than 1,500 prison guards for its PENITENTIARIES when there should be at least 5,000.
(P12) Prisons in the state are often run by electing inmates to maintain security alongside the guards.
(P13) The union also said that like most Brazilian jails, this one was severely OVERCROWDED.
(P14) The prison complex houses four times the number of prisoners it was built for.
WORDS: 277
SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35397442
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.
- Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
- Have you ever met anyone who spent time in prison? How did they describe the experience?
- What is the REPUTATION of the prisons in your country?
- Why would inmates try to escape if they know they will be punished worse if they are re-captured?
- Do you think that prison conditions are usually too bad, too good, or about right?
EXPRESSIONS TO PRACTICE:
What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.
- At large
- Fan out
