Police find Gary Glover after alleged prison escape

A male inmate who allegedly escaped from custody at a western Sydney prison while doing ground maintenance has been apprehended more than 30km away.

A search is underway for a man who has escaped from a Lidcombe jail. Picture: Toby Zerna

A male inmate who allegedly escaped from custody at a western Sydney prison has been apprehended more than 30 kms away.

Gary Glover, 44, was last seen on Jamieson St, Silverwater about 1.30pm today after he was tasked with work release from the Mary Wade Correctional Centre in Lidcombe.

It is understood he was conducting ground maintenance just outside the Silverwater facility at the time as part of his prison job, with a minimum security classification while he was serving a sentence for driving offences.

At 1.30pm during head checks, it is understood Corrective Services staff realised he was unaccounted for and immediately contacted Auburn police.

NSW Corrective Services have confirmed Glover has now been returned to custody after an hours-long search.

A NSW Police spokesman said the man was located in Lethbridge Park.

“He was taken to Mount Druitt Police Station where charges are expected,” he said.

Gary Glover 44, has escaped from Silverwater Correctional Centre.

Glover’s record – and allegations he was sexually abused while behind bars in juvenile detention as a teenager – were detailed by the ABC’s 7:30 program as part of an investigation into Reiby Youth Justice Centre last year.

The program, aired in February 2023, highlighted Glover’s “psychological scars” after ending up in youth detention 26 years ago as a passenger in a stolen car involved in a high-speed chase.

“When I get up in the morning, and I look in the mirror, I just see a broken, hurt person,” he told the ABC.

“I’m not proud of who I am and I feel ashamed of myself and dirty.”

Glover alleged that a female worker at Reiby had sex illegally with him multiple times during his detention.

“She kept on like, just grabbing me and making me perform sexual acts on her when I didn’t want to. That happened several times,” he told the ABC.

Reiby Juvenile Justice Centre. Picture: Adam Taylor

The last time someone allegedly escaped custody in NSW was in January, when an inmate was accused of fleeing a NSW Corrective Services facility attached to Broken Hill Local Court on January 14.

The man was subsequently arrested four days later at a nearby home.

Police also charged a man with escaping from Long Bay Correctional Centre in Little Bay in Sydney’s east in August 2023, after he allegedly escaped the jail and carjacked a female driver before forcing her to drive him to Sydney’s south.

Last month a woman was also charged after allegedly escaping police custody while she was under guard at Wollongong Hospital.

A senior Corrective Services NSW source told The Daily Telegraph it was “almost impossible for a genuine escape of Silverwater Correctional Centre”.

“These prisons are built so well that the only escapes you see are when inmates in minimum security are let out for work release,” he said. “Decades ago you would have more than 100 escapes a year.”

“Now we see three or four.”

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