A prisoner who was working at the Mário Negócio Penitentiary, in Mossoró, escaped shortly after asking to go to the bathroom in the unit during a task he was performing. According to the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (Seap), he was being escorted when he escaped.
The fugitive was identified as Bartogaleno Alves Saldanha, who, in 2025, was also on the run after breaking his electronic ankle bracelet one day after being sentenced to 18 years in prison for a murder in Campo Grande.
The escape took place on the morning of this Friday (11) and was the third recorded in the Rio Grande do Norte prison system in the month of September alone. Seap holders also left the portfolio this week.
The circumstances of the escape were not disclosed. In a statement, Seap reported that the prisoner escaped while carrying out work activities at the penitentiary and that security forces and Seap teams are mobilized to recapture the inmate.
Until the most recent update of this report, the prisoner had not been recaptured.
Two other escapes in September
This is the third escape recorded in the month of September in the state's prison system.
On the 3rd, Matheus Phelipe Constantino da Silva, 27 years old, from the Rogério Coutinho Madruga Penitentiary, in Nísia Floresta, escaped from the São José de Mipibu UPA, where he had been hospitalized since August 29th after a psychotic episode. He was recaptured on the banks of BR-101 days later.
On September 8, inmate Anderson Stallone Flores dos Santos, aged 38, escaped from Alcaçuz Penitentiary, in Nísia Floresta, due to work to expand the health module. He would have passed through two concertina lines installed on the penitentiary wall. The detainee was not recaptured.
Changes at Seap
Last Wednesday (9), secretary Helton Edi Xavier and deputy Arméli Marques were dismissed from the Penitentiary Administration Secretariat.
The government did not inform the reason for the change and also did not establish a relationship between the change in Seap management and the recent episodes recorded in the penitentiary system.
Colonel Francisco Canindé de Araújo, Secretary of Public Security, took over the role on an interim basis.
Mass leaks in 2026
The Rio Grande do Norte prison system recorded at least two mass escapes this year.
Getaway in July at Rogério Madruga Coutinho
In July, eleven prisoners managed to escape from the Rogério Madruga Coutinho Penitentiary, in Nísia Floresta, after removing the toilet and digging a hole to escape the cell.
At least five prisoners ended up being recaptured, while another five remained at large until this Friday (11).
Escape in May from the Alcaçuz Penitentiary
In May, five prisoners escaped from the Alcaçuz Penitentiary, which is located next to Rogério Madruga Coutinho. The inmates damaged the cell and used an improvised rope, known as a "teresa", to jump over the wall.
According to Seap, they escaped during intense rains recorded in the region. Until that moment, according to the secretariat, the last escape in the unit had been recorded in 2021.
Four of the five escapees were recaptured. Until this Friday (11), the only fugitive was Maycon Dias de Mora.
