Overview
- Authorities identified the fugitive as Toma Taulant, a 41-year-old Albanian serving a sentence until October 2048, who remains at large.
- Investigators say he sawed cell bars, descended with knotted bedsheets, then scaled the outer wall about six meters high, with his absence noted during the 8 a.m. count.
- Police and prison investigative units launched wide-area searches across Lombardy with checkpoints and border monitoring to prevent a potential escape from Italy.
- Officials have not confirmed whether outside accomplices helped him breach the perimeter or provided support after he left the facility.
- Union data highlight Opera’s strain with about 1,338 inmates for 918 places and 533 officers versus an estimated 811 needed, as reports note this is Taulant’s fourth escape after prior breakouts in Terni, Parma and Belgium.