"There is no doubt: most of the escapees are now holed up in Cite Soleil," a police inspector in that devastated city slum, Rosemond Aristide, said.

"These escapees are a danger for the population. They're armed," he warned.

"We're looking for them. We've already located around 20. But we dare not go in after them because we don't want collateral damage," Aristide said on Tuesday.

The break-out by thousands of criminals in Port-au-Prince's main prison when it was cracked open by the January 12 quake poses one of the biggest public security challenges to the Haitian authorities.

Before the quake, UN police and soldiers -- particularly the Brazilians, with their expertise in countering slum gangs -- spent years quelling much of the rampant violence that stalked the capital's streets, especially in the largely lawless Cite Soleil.

But with the temblor that allowed the escape of the convicts, Haitian police chief Mario Andresol said at the time, "in just a few seconds, all that work vanished."

Cite Soleil is a formidable hiding place for the convicts, "who melt into the local population of this district, where nearly 500,000 people live," Aristide said.

One of the escapees, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his legal situation, confirmed as much.

"We're on our turf here, protected by the locals. The people know we don't want to hurt them," the young man said as he walked freely in Cite Soleil's streets, where marijuana smoke and hip-hop music float unhindered in the air.

In the narrow alleys and close-packed shacks and tents and homes made of concrete blocks, lawbreakers and ordinary residents mix in a chaos and with codes only they can understand.

Another escapee, a feared high-profile figure in Haiti's underworld called Ti Blanc, told AFP by telephone that the authorities had nothing to fear.

"We've returned with a new vision of things. No violence. Just faith in God," said the convict, who had been sentenced to life behind bars for murder and kidnapping, and who was extradited from France for slaying a French diplomat.

Ti Blanc denied being a killer.

"People have turned me into the devil. I never killed. Somebody used my name in acts that I never committed," he said.

In any case, the escapees claimed their exit from prison had been unfairly portrayed.

"We were freed. The officials have to admit their responsibility, say that they ordered the prison's gates opened," said another fugitive, who also demanded anonymity, and who hid his face.

Around them, Cite Soleil residents refuse to talk about the criminals living among them. But they know they are there.

"They're not a problem for us. So we don't talk about them," explained one local.

"And we don't want to become a problem for them."

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