Search for escaped prisoner continues

A prison inmate escaped in Cham last Thursday. Although a similar incident also occurred in the spring, the security precautions will not be strengthened, say the authorities.

A prisoner has once again escaped during an external work assignment. Zug police confirmed on Thursday that a 41-year-old Algerian had escaped in the morning. An inmate of the Zug prison also escaped from a car in March of this year, while returning from a firewood delivery. He was later re-captured in Zurich.

Thursday's escape also occurred during an external firewood delivery, as Ueli Rohrer, Group Leader of Enforcement at the Zug prison, stated on request. The man fled in Cham at 10 o'clock. The prisoner escaped on foot, and did not resort to any violence. He was travelling with an accompanying person from the detention centre, together with other detainees.

"Escapes are rare"
According to Ueli Rohrer, the inmate was being held in the Zug Detention Centre (Strafanstalt Zug), where he was  serving a sentence after offences for disregarding inclusion or exclusion orders, as well as various general offences such as theft and violations of the Narcotics Act. Disregard for inclusion or exclusion could mean that he violated a prohibition order against entering a specific area.

The Zug detention centre in the centre of the city.                 Photo: Werner Schelbert

When asked whether such cases occur frequently and whether the safety precautions will be strengthened, Ueli Rohrer answered: "No, escapes are generally rare, and the security precautions will therefore not be strengthened. Persons in open prison do not pose a danger to the population."

According to Frank Kleiner, media spokesman for the Zug police, the manhunt for the man continues. "We’ve not been able to catch him so far," he said in a statement on Friday morning.

As Toni Amrein, head of the Office of Corrections at the Zug Security Directorate, told our newspaper in March, external work assignments take place almost daily. "The permit for external work assignments is issued by the competent public prosecutor's office or the competent court. It only applies to inmates who have a certificate of good conduct, if no special security precautions are necessary and if there is no risk of absconding according to the assessments."