A violent prisoner who fled custody while being taken to a medical appointment and spent 10 weeks on the run had recently been upgraded to a maximum security inmate. An operational review into the incident was released to the Herald under the Official Information Act in response to questions prompted by the high profile escape of another prisoner, Damon Exley, who raped a stranger after breaking out of jail. The only other prisoner who escaped custody after a recent security classification override in the past five years was Te Ariki Poulgrain, who had, in fact, recently been given an upgraded security rating.
Poulgrain and Exley are two of thousands of prisoners who have had their security classifications manually overridden in the past five years, Corrections figures show. Poulgrain, then 23, had previously been sentenced to prison for his part in an attack on career criminal and notorious double murderer Graeme Burton, who was stabbed more than 40 times.
He has a lengthy conviction history dating back to the age of 15 and is a Killer Beez gang member. The review noted the three officers assigned to supervise Poulgrain on the medical escort had a combined 37 years of experience between them, and all three had experience with Poulgrain and noted his behaviour that day was normal. When the group arrived at the Liggins Institute for the medical appointment, Poulgrain kicked the van door as an officer went to open it, knocking the officer to the ground.
Poulgrain pushed past and fled. I did not get a response. Poulgrain continued running, and the officer flagged down a passing motorist and told them to call The officers had described watching the prisoner run away appearing to still be handcuffed, but CCTV footage revealed he had one cuff on his right wrist and was holding another loose handcuff in his right hand.
The escort plan stated he should be double-cuffed to an officer at all times when not in the closed, secure van. During an interview, the officer noted he had secured the long cuffs to his own wrist and was preparing to apply the other cuff to Poulgrain when he escaped.
