An inmate of His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) scaled the back fence of the jail in the
early hours of Wednesday morning for what is believed to be an intimate
rendezvous with his girlfriend.
An investigation is now underway to determined how he escaped and subsequently
re-entered the prison, without the knowledge of on-duty corrections officers.
According to reports, 31-year-old Elijah John who is serving a four-month
sentence for the possession of a firearm, scaled the back perimeter fence of the
penal institution shortly before 3:00 am.
The police were contacted, and a search was immediately launched. While John
was not immediately located, police stumbled upon the inmate’s 21-year-old
girlfriend, who was sitting in a white Toyota RAV 4 on the eastern side of HMP.
She was questioned and then detained, while the vehicle was impounded.
Unconfirmed reports are the police even used the woman to contact John, in order
to lure him to them, but calls to his mobile phone went unanswered.
A law enforcement officer who was operating his private vehicle in the vicinity of
St. John’s Fire Station reportedly saw a male figure dressed in black, under the
south tower of the prison. The policeman gave chase, but the individual who was
believed to be inmate Elijah John jumped the fence of T.N Kirnon Primary School
and escaped.
As prison guards were relocating the inmates who shared a cell with the escaped
inmate, Elijah John was seen in the bathroom dressed only in his underwear and a
pair of socks, with cuts and bruises about his body, suggesting he re-entered the
prison the same way he exited.
He was handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department on the instruction
of the new Superintendent of Prisons, Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Pennyfeather.
Questions are being raised including, how did John escape at that time when all
inmates are expected to be confined to their cells.
Investigations are ongoing.
