According to reports, over a thousand inmates escaped from at least four different prisons in the state Sao Paulo in Brazil this week after local ficials canceled their temporary exits because fears they could bring the new coronavirus back with them. Inmates were reportedly enraged over the restrictions imposed on them, which resulted in them to riot and escape in masses.

Brazil media said over 1,000 inmates initially escaped, but roughly 174 them have been recaptured. Footage surfaced online showing hundreds men running out a prison in the city Mongaguá, which you can see for yourself (below).

The Sao Paulo state prison authority said “acts insubordination” had taken place at the jails after it postponed the Easter prison break, which is one the five annual breaks for prisoners in semi-open regimes who work in the day because coronavirus. “The measure was necessary because the benefit would include more than 34,000 convicts the semi-open regime who, returning to prison, would have high potential to install and spread the coronavirus in a vulnerable population, generating health risks to servers and custodians,” the prison department said.

For what its worth, semi-open prisons in the state have no armed guards, São Paulo’s state penitentiary administration department said, adding that it is “taking all the due measures to remedy the problem.” So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see the inmates try and escape at a time like this.