Manitoba inmate escapes, drives off in government truck; caught in Saskatchewan

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WINNIPEG — An inmate escaped from a Manitoba jail and was gone for about five hours before staff even knew he was gone.

Police say staff at the Brandon Correctional Centre found out the inmate escaped when Mounties in Saskatchewan called them about his arrest.

Brandon police Staff Sergeant Larry Yanick says the 27-year-old inmate was being held in the gym and escaped through a door that had been propped open for ventilation around 3 a.m. Monday.

He then scaled a building, and once on the roof, made his way to the front and jumped to the ground.

The inmate then used a set of keys which had been stolen earlier from a maintenance office to start a Manitoba government pickup truck from the parking lot.

He was arrested more than 200 kilometres west of Brandon by Oxbow RCMP after a citizen made a complaint, but police didn’t give any details.

Yanick said that RCMP called the Brandon jail around 8 a.m. on Monday to ask if they were missing an inmate and supplied the name of the man.

“The jail quickly found out that the person… in custody was indeed an inmate from their facility,” Yanick said.

“Through their own investigation, they found that he had escaped sometime during the night… without being noticed.”

The inmate had significant injuries to his feet and back and was taken to hospital in Regina.

It’s not known what the man was being held for in the Brandon jail.

The medium-security facility holds 157 adult males and provides short-term holding for up to 10 young offenders and four adult females.

The man is charged with escape from lawful custody and theft of a motor vehicle.