A man who was serving a 15- month jail sentence for simple larceny was on Friday morning recaptured minutes after escaping from the New Amsterdam Prison.
The convict Rai Joseph being escorted back to prison
The escaped prisoner has been identified as Rai Joseph, who escaped at about 06:45h on Friday. Joseph, in a dash for freedom, scaled the fence of the facility. However, Prison Service ranks at the security tower saw when Joseph jumped the fence, and they raised an alarm. Ranks pursued and recaptured him in the ward of Winkel, less than one hundred metres away from the prison fence. He was found lying flat in a clump of bushes in an alleyway.
One resident of the community told this publication that the escaped prisoner had gone into his yard.
“I was downstairs, and whilst on my phone, I heard the front gate rattling, so I came to the door to see what is going on. Upon looking, I did not see
Convicted: Rai Joseph
anyone, (but) realising that it had to be someone scaled the fence, I decided to enquire. When I went on the step, I saw the movement at the back of my fence, and there is it where the guy was hiding.
“About five minutes (later), some of the officers from the Prison Service, backed up by the Police, came, and they were able to apprehend him and escort him back,” the resident said.
When Joseph was found, he was wearing only his short pants. He was promptly escorted back to the prison.
The Prison Service has since launched an investigation into the incident.
Joseph was expected to be released on December 11.
