VIC: Escaped prisoner recaptured in Melbourne

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-1999
VIC: Escaped prisoner recaptured in Melbourne

Victorian police say they have recaptured a 23-year-old prisoner who spent several hours on
the run from a correctional centre in eastern Victoria today.

Police spokeswoman TAMMI SLADDIN says police arrested the man near Caulfield railway
station at 1.25pm after he'd allegedly hid in a minibus which left the Fulham Correctional
Centre at Sale at 9.30am (AEST).

She says the bus was reported missing about noon, when it was noticed the prisoner was also
missing, and the bus was later found abandoned at Warragul, about halfway between Melbourne
and Sale.

The union covering prison officers blames the incident on understaffing.

Community and Public Sector Union spokesman JULIAN KENNELLY says four guards should have
been on duty in the protective section, but there were only two on deck when the prisoner
allegedly escaped.





Prison squad detectives are expected to charge the man with escaping from custody, theft of
a motor vehicle and driving while disqualified.

AAP RTV ag/gf/ra/lm/jn

KEYWORD: FULHAM (MELBOURNE)

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