A post by Pat
The setting : Regina Correctional Centre, Saskatchewan Canada
“It was shocking,” said Saskatchewan Corrections Minister Darryl Hickie, a former police officer and prison worker
An audacious plan is plotted.
The prisoners, four of whom faced murder charges, used modified nail clippers and other tools to remove a heating grill and chip away at the brickwork…
The inmates devise a brilliant deception.
They were able to toil away at this while their friends blocked the view of the staff by playing cards in the corridor.
The guards become suspicious.
Some guards had suspected something was being planned, but they did not interview the prisoners.
The tense duel between deception and suspicion continues day…after day…for four months.
“Idle hands are the Devil’s tools,” said the Saskatchewan Government report…
…at least 87 prison workers had supervised the six prisoners’ unit without detecting the escape preparations.
The fateful moment arrives
We didn’t think we would get away with it,” one escaped prisoner told the investigating team. “We started working on it. It was something to do and we just kept at it. When we didn’t get caught, we picked our night and just went.” The six inmates escaped the compound in the prairies of central Canada by using blankets and sheets to scale the outer walls.
The surprise ending.
A government report has made more than 20 recommendations to improve security at the prison in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government has accepted the report’s findings and said it will build a new C$87m ($68m; £49m) remand centre. .
Astonished, we are left asking ourselves, “Why didn’t they just fire the guards and hire new ones?” Perhaps there will be a sequel.
These characters are not fictional. They are based on a true life account here and here.
