NT Police arrest prisoners who escaped from Darwin watch house
A makeshift rope can be seen hanging from a metal grate outside the watch house. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
In short:
Northern Territory police arrested two prisoners on Wednesday afternoon who escaped a watch house in the Darwin CBD early Wednesday morning.
The prisoners appeared to have smashed a window from within their cell and used a bed sheet to create a makeshift rope.
What's next?
NT corrections said it is "implementing immediate measures to address identified vulnerabilities to reduce the risk of further incidents".
Two prisoners have been arrested on Wednesday afternoon after they escaped from a Darwin watch house using what appeared to be makeshift rope made out of bed sheets.
The prisoners were arrested in Daly River, 220 kilometres south of Darwin, NT Police said.
NT Police Commander Danny Bacon said the two male prisoners, aged 19 and 24, had been held by NT Corrections at a police watch house in the CBD when they broke out of their cell on Wednesday morning.
"At 4:50am a member of the public rang police advising they saw some activity on the roof just outside of the Corrections watch house," he said.
The watch house is located above Chemist Warehouse on Knuckey Street. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)
The men were arrested by police and returned to custody on Wednesday afternoon, a statement from NT Corrections said.
"The immediate priority for Corrections is to work with NT Police as part of their ongoing investigation and to ensure that necessary measures are taken to ensure the ongoing security of the facility," the statement said.
"Noting investigations are in an early stage, it is evident the two men exited the facility through a first floor cell window by using an instrument to apply blunt force to breach the secure laminated glass.
"A crime scene was established, and our incident response team are working with forensics from NT Police to thoroughly investigate the sequence of events to establish how the men escaped."
The prisoners appear to have smashed a window and broken through a metal grate from the inside. (Supplied)
In the NT, it is common for some prisoners to be held in police watch houses due to overcrowding in prisons.
Images from the watch house on Wednesday morning showed a knotted makeshift rope hanging out of a grate where they escaped.
"I've not seen this sort of elaborate escape," Commander Bacon said.
NT Corrections said it was "implementing immediate measures to address identified vulnerabilities and operating procedures to reduce the risk of further incidents".
Those measures, the department said, included "changing operational procedures inside the watch house" and reviewing security logs and CCTV.
The department also said it would be launch an internal investigation into the escape and review how it monitors prisoners during day and night shifts.