Women’s escape puts focus on stressed prison system
INCREASING stress on the prison system is being blamed for the escape of two young female prisoners at Numinbah Valley.
Tegan Simpson, 24, and Abigail Graf, 21, have been on the run since Sunday when a late night headcount discovered the pair had absconded from Numinbah Correctional Centre in the Gold Coast hinterland.
Graf is on remand for assaulting police and Simpson was in custody for receiving stolen goods.
Queensland Police statistics reveal 12 prisoners have escaped lawful custody on the Coast in the past three years.
Shadow Corrective Services Minister Tim Mander said the escape could be linked to the huge stress on prisons in Queensland and urged government to take action.
“Any prisoner escaping a correctional facility is an issue and the tensions that have been caused by overcrowding could well be a contributing factor to prisoners wanting to get out,” he said.
“We’ve got chronic overcrowding in our prisons … we’ve had increased assaults the on prison officers because of this overcrowding.”
A spokeswoman for Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan said the incident was under investigation.
“There have been no escapes from a high security prison since 1998,” she said.
“An investigation is underway ... The outcome of this (investigation) will determine whether any further measures need to be implemented.”
Graf is about 168cm tall and about 61kg, with hazel eyes and bleached blonde hair.
Simpson is about 163cm tall, weighs 48kg, has green eyes and dark brown hair. Both have several atttoos.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.