Inmates make Shawshank escape from Bali prison
INDONESIA: An Australian, a Bulgarian, an Indian and a Malaysian are among seven prisoners who have escaped from a jail in Bali through a narrow, waterlogged drain and tunnel.
The authorities at Kerobokan prison in Denpasar confirmed that a manhunt was under way for the four foreigners and three locals who were missing after crawling through a 15-metre ’’waste tunnel’’ under the prison wall, in an escape reminiscent of the film The Shawshank Redemption.
The men are believed to have dug part of the shaft themselves in what appears to have been a wellplanned escape. The filthy drain was less than 40 centimetres and ran from behind the jail’s clinic. The other end of the escape tunnel came up just beyond the prison wall, surfacing near a guard tower, which was unmanned because of staff shortages at the overcrowded jail.
Among those on the run is Shaun Davidson, 31, an Australian who was nearing the end of a 12-month sentence after being convicted last September of using a fraudulent passport to flee to Bali. He had been due to face drug charges in Perth in January 2015 but fled to Indonesia on a tourist visa.
He escaped with fellow foreigners Dimitar Iliev, a Bulgarian jailed for seven years for money laundering; Sayed Said, an Indian serving 14 years on drug charges; and Tee Kok King, a Malaysian who was serving a seven-year sentence, also for drug offences.
‘‘We are still chasing them. We have also made a report to the police,’’ Surung Pasaribu, head of prisons at the law and human rights ministry, said.
Kerobokan opened in 1979 and was designed for 323 inmates but houses 1378, according to government figures. Several foreigners involved in drug cases have been held there, including Australian Schapelle Corby.
The seven men are believed to have escaped their cell block by smashing through the ceiling before dawn and making their way to the drain.
Tony Nainggolan, the prison’s governor, said the authorities believed that the escape had been planned for some time. ‘‘Shaun started growing a beard and moustache, we suspect to change his appearance,’’ he said.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald last year, Davidson said the conditions in Kerobokan were bearable, but only if an inmate had money and support from outside. He had been teaching other inmates to box.
Jailbreaks are common in Indonesia, where overcrowding has become a problem in prisons that are struggling to cope with poor funding and an influx of people arrested on drug charges.
- The Times