Confusion in the jail's control room as a 'Code Blue' was called by frightened prisoner officers

A critical incident report tabled in the ACT Assembly by the independent Inspector of Correctional Services has revealed how an inmate, named in the report as Detainee Z, had conspired with a woman to escape custody.

Both have been charged. The detainee has pleaded not guilty over the incident while his alleged accomplice applied for bail in November but was refused.

The female accomplice faces three counts of assaulting a front-line community service provider and one count each of dangerous driving, driving while suspended, stealing a car, crashing and not giving details to the other driver, and damage to property. She is due to face court on January 10.

The Liberals' corrections spokesperson Elizabeth Kikkert said the report revealed how previous concerns by the inspector were unheeded "when his concerns are rooted in common sense".

Around 2pm on July 9, the detainee told prison health staff he had swallowed a damaged battery. The health advice offered was that he should be sent to the Canberra Hospital for X-rays.

Separately, intelligence gathered by prison staff - the source of which cannot be publicly disclosed - had found out that a package containing contraband, suspected to be drugs, had been planted in the hospital's X-ray department.

When told by prison officers that the hidden contraband was found, the inmate "strenuously" denied all knowledge and asked to return to his cell where he would "pass" the battery naturally.

But when told that would involve him going into the jail's Crisis Support Unit where he would be closely observed 24/7, he changed his mind and agreed to go to hospital.

About two hours later, transport to the hospital was arranged.

On the morning of the incident, the pair spoke about a car being "fuelled" and asking if "everything was ready". The woman described the car - a Jeep Wrangler - as "the best one I could have picked".

Then came the escape.

For the transport - unadvisedly, because in a separate report months beforehand the inspector had expressed his concerns about using such a vehicle for transporting prisoners - a standard Toyota Camry sedan with ACT government plates was chosen.

The prisoner was handcuffed and put in the back, between two prison officers, neither of whom was armed, while another officer drove.

As the car approached the Hindmarsh Drive and Mugga Lane intersection, it was violently rammed from behind by the Jeep.

At first, officers thought at first it was a simple traffic accident but then when their car was rammed a second and third time, hard enough to spin it completely around, the officers decided to head to the federal police headquarters in Barton via the back streets "to minimise risks to the public".

The officers feared their attacker may be armed because the report says how the prisoner was telling officers "they are here to kill me!" and "she is going to shoot us".

The first radio call from the pursued officers to the master control room at the jail confused the "Code Blue" with one in another part of the jail but a team was dispatched from the jail and police were called for assistance.

The badly damaged Camry, with one or more flat tyres, was finally forced off the road in Oxley St, Manuka and the officers got out. One tried to hold onto the prisoner's handcuffs but failed, and as the Jeep pulled up, the driver was heard to address the prisoner and say: "Get in!"

How the woman knew when the Camry was leaving the prison, or the route taken, was not able to be determined in the report.

In the aftermath of the incident, the stolen Jeep was found ablaze in Forrest 40 minutes later.

The prisoner was allegedly found later hiding in the roof cavity of a house in Lyneham and taken into custody by police.

The inspector has made nine recommendations in his report, including the need for all Corrections to have a duress alarm system, that all cars be equipped so they can tracked and located "at all times", that all officers be provided with ongoing support and that "secure vehicles are used to transport detainees unless there are exceptional circumstances".

The officers were commended in the report, saying they "conducted themselves in an exemplary manner while, as they told us, being in fear of their lives".

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