Montreal

Orsainville security tightened following helicopter jailbreak

Public Security Minister Lise Thériault confirmed officials are taking steps to prevent future escapes from the Orsainville jail, after three inmates used a helicopter to break out of jail earlier this month.

Premier Philippe Couillard questions why escape was not captured on surveillance tape

Three inmates imprisoned for offences including murder and gangsterism escaped from the Orsainville Detention Centre in suburban Quebec City on June 7, using a helicopter. (CBC)

Public Security Minister Lise Thériault confirmed officials are taking steps to prevent future escapes from the Orsainville jail, after three inmates used a helicopter to break out of jail earlier this month.

Thériault would not specify what has changed or how helicopters would be stopped from landing inside the jail yard, because she said that information could be used by other inmates to orchestrate another escape. 

In the meantime, Premier Philippe Couillard is questioning why surveillance cameras didn't capture footage of the brazen helicopter escape.

The premier said that is one of the many questions he expects to be answered over the course of a probe into penal and government agencies to find out how inmates were able to break out of jail using a helicopter in two separate incidents in the past 15 months.

"A helicopter is not a small object ... seems to me it should be detected by surveillance cameras, so that is part of the question that has to be answered," Couillard said. 

Thériault's press attaché said similar measures will be implemented in a dozen other jails where there are people awaiting trial who have links to organized crime.