Prison authorities have thrown a shroud of secrecy over a daring escape bid from Canberra's jail by two armed inmates earlier this month.
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In a scenario reminiscent of a movie script, the high-security prisoners - one understood to have been imprisoned for armed robbery and the other with a history of assault, burglary and weapons offences - waited for several hours after "lights out" on Saturday, March 19 to smash a window in their second-storey cell block.
Both men were understood to have been armed with makeshift weapons.
Minutes before midnight on March 19, the two inmates squeezed through the broken window of their cell and used a makeshift rope from knotted bedsheets to reach the prison yard at the rear of Sentenced Unit 1 of the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
However, the noise created by the breaking window was investigated by prison staff, who chased after the inmates as they raced to scale the fence.
The prisoners resisted capture, and guards had to use capsicum spray to subdue them.
After decontamination, they were both escorted to more secure accommodation.
Prison staff then went cell by cell to conduct a full head count of the detainee population, with all inmates fully accounted for by the early hours of the morning.
The Justice and Community Safety (JACS) directorate, which has oversight of the Alexander Maconochie Centre, did not release any details of the attempted escape until contacted by The Canberra Times.
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The escape bid was confirmed by a JACS spokesman, who in a statement said "ACT Corrective Services were able to quickly apprehend the detainees within the AMC".
Police were investigating whether the pair would be charged with escaping from lawful custody. In a statement, police said they were called to the jail after they were notified of the escape attempt and their inquiries were continuing.
There had been speculation of involvement from outside the jail and this was still part of the investigation, with CCTV footage of the perimeter and surrounding area being assessed.
Repair work is still under way within the Alexander Maconochie Centre after a riot last May involving 27 prisoners who refused to return to their cells and armed themselves with broomsticks and steel chair legs. The repair bill from that incident, with multiple cells damaged by smoke and fire, was $5.7 million.
This latest escape attempt is the most significant since a controversial and dangerous public incident in July last year, when a Toyota Camry prison transport vehicle taking a detainee to Canberra hospital was rammed off the road in Manuka, and the detainee was able to flee with the aid of an accomplice in a stolen Jeep.
That specific incident sparked a major independent critical incident report from the Inspector of Correctional Services Neil McAllister, who highlighted a number of major flaws in the ACT prison transport system.
In November 2019 the jail went into lockdown when a hole was cut in the perimeter fence from the outside and a package of contraband was thrown into the prison yard.
Under questioning later in a Legislative Assembly committee hearing, former Corrections Commissioner Jon Peach said despite an extensive search, the contraband was never recovered.
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