KEY POINTS:
Police are hunting for a man who escaped from Hawkes Bay's regional jail in a prison ute.
He is Andrew James Robertson, 18, from the Wanganui area, who is not known to have any Hawke's Bay contacts.
Hastings police Senior Sergeant Greg Brown said Robertson escaped between 12.30pm and 1pm today. He was serving a 12-month sentence for dishonesty offences and was not considered dangerous.
It was believed Robertson had stolen a Holden Rodeo double cab ute, registration number AAO459. The grey/silver prison vehicle has the letters CIE in blue on the doors.
Mr Brown said anyone seeing Robertson, or the vehicle, should contact police without approaching him.
Corrections Department inmate employment national operations manager Robin Benefield said Robertson, a minimum security prisoner, was employed as a cleaner for on-site department property.
"The prisoner was at work and has exploited an opportunity to abscond with a department vehicle," said Mr Benefield.
"Public safety is paramount and clearly the department is extremely concerned at this breach of security. We have launched an internal review into the incident."
Mr Benefield said low security prisoners chosen to participate in employment activities went through rigorous checks to determine if they were suitable.
"Escapes, where low-security prisoners are in breach of trust by absconding from their place of employment, are relatively uncommon."
The department is also investigating the escape last Friday of axe murderer John Frederick Ericson , 45, who went missing from a Wellington Prison work detail.
He gave himself up to a police officer near the Wellington ferry terminal around 1.30pm on Saturday.
Ericson is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in April 2000 to murdering his wife by striking her repeatedly in the back of the head with a tomahawk while she was asleep.
- NZPA
