'Escape wizard' inmate flees Milan prison in fourth breakout from European jails

An infamous inmate escaped from a maximum security wing of Milan's Opera prison over the weekend, in what was his fourth successful breakout from Italian and European detention facilities.

Taulant Toma, 41, sawed through iron bars and used knotted bed sheets to lower himself from his cell window during the night between Saturday and Sunday, exploiting the darkness and a shift change among prison officers, according to Italian authorities.

Toma, who is a citizen of Albania, is serving a sentence for robbery and other crimes that runs until October 2048. Investigators said he scaled the facility's six-metre wall before disappearing.

Italian police have launched a nationwide manhunt with patrols, checkpoints and border controls. Authorities fear Toma may attempt to flee the country.

History of escapes

Toma first escaped from Terni prison in 2009. His most discussed breakout occurred in February 2013 when he and fellow inmate Vamentin Frokaj fled from Parma prison's maximum security wing.

Frokaj, who was serving a life sentence, was later killed by a jeweller during a home invasion in 2015.

After the 2013 escape, Italian police searched for Toma for 40 days before discovering he had been arrested in Belgium and was being held in Liège awaiting extradition. He subsequently escaped from Belgian custody as well just a few months later.

Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage from Opera prison to determine whether Toma received outside assistance.

Prison overcrowding crisis

The escape highlights systemic problems in Italy's prison system, where overcrowding and staff shortages have made security increasingly challenging to maintain.

According to the Antigone Association, Italian prisons operated at 133 per cent capacity in 2025, housing more than 62,000 inmates in facilities designed for approximately 51,000.

Italy has fewer than 46,000 prison officers, leaving the system short by about 20,000 staff, according to prison unions.

The Opera prison held 1,338 inmates in 918 spaces as of the escape — 153% overcrowding — managed by just 533 officers when at least 811 are needed, according to Gennarino De Fazio, secretary general of penitentiary police union UILPA.

"This umpteenth episode, combined with the drama that is experienced every day in prisons, further certifies the failure of the prison policies conducted by governments for at least the last 25 years," De Fazio said.

He added that the situation "violates the fundamental human rights of inmates" and puts "prison police corps operators to a very hard test."