A prisoner on a hospital visit had only a fleeting taste of freedom after making too much noise as he tried to escape through a ceiling cavity today.
Constable Heath Cameron said a 24-year-old inmate under the care of Corrections staff attempted to escape from Waikato Hospital by climbing into a ceiling cavity while in a toilet about 11am.
"The man has then crawled along to an access tunnel and managed to get down to the floor below and smashed his way into an administrative area.
"Fortunately for us the alarm was raised very quickly by the Corrections staff and by hospital workers who heard him banging against the wall and, working together, he was arrested by police with assistance of the guards and hospital security."
The inmate was to appear in Hamilton District Court this afternoon on a charge of escaping lawful custody.
