A 43-year-old man has daringly escaped the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami, prompting an intense manhunt, officials say. The fugitive, identified as Jean Carlos Cruz, is a Puerto Rican national who took flight on Friday from the low-security confines of the facility situated close to the Country Walk neighborhood and ZooMiami. The escape was confirmed through a flyer released by the Miami-Dade Police Department's Homeland Security Bureau. According to Local 10 News, an employee at FCI Miami and a federal corrections officer have verified the authenticity of the flyer.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports the escapee was housed among over 1,000 other inmates, with 158 staying at an adjacent camp. At the time of his escape, Cruz was serving a lengthy 35-year sentence for firearms possession during a drug trafficking crime, a conviction dating back to 2002. He had been desperately attempting to secure an early release, citing a personal contention over the mandatory minimum for a first-time, nonviolent offender as being excessively punitive, and also accusing prison authorities of neglect regarding his healthcare needs. "I have served over 21 years in prison on that excessively long 35-year sentence," Cruz stated in a letter addressed to Warden Samantha Serrano in 2022, as disclosed by court filings obtained by Local 10 News.
Miami-Dade Police are currently scouring the area and appealing to the public for any leads. The pursuit is tense, as Cruz's expertise in firearms and drug trafficking hints at a possibly dangerous individual at large. Previous records detail additional convictions including violent crime in relation to drugs, machine gun possession, and selling defaced firearms. His criminal background was laid out in a letter by the U.S. District Judge Raul M. Arias-Marxuach, who last year denied Cruz's request for compassionate release.
Community members are urged to remain vigilant and immediately report any sightings or information about Cruz's whereabouts. Authorities have asked that anyone with such information should quickly to call Detective B. Benavides at 305-215-5691. "Detectives asked anyone with information about Cruz’s whereabouts to call," as stated in the MDPD flyer. Further details about the case are scarce at the moment, but a spokesperson for MDPD has yet to respond to a request for comment from Local 10 News.
No affirmation was received either from the officials in reports made by NBC 6 on X, speaking to the heightened concern and urgency of the matter at hand.
A man escaped from federal prison in Miami and now the police are looking for him. Here's the details of what you should know: https://t.co/OS0xjgXiOt
— NBC 6 South Florida (@nbc6) February 24, 2024
