Malmsbury prison escapee Matthew Piscopo sentenced in Ballarat court

Details of a teenager’s daring jailbreak have been revealed, along with his trail of destruction after he smashed his way out.

A man who escaped a Victorian youth detention centre earlier this year has been sentenced in Ballarat court for the prison breakout.

A manhunt was launched after Shamus Tuohy, 22, and Matthew Piscopo, 19, broke out of the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre about 80km northwest of Melbourne in August.

Piscopo, 19, and 22-year-old co-accused Shamus Tuohy were housed in the admissions unit of the justice centre.

In the late evening of August 6, they put pillows under their blankets to make it seem as if they were sleeping.

They smashed through the plaster ceiling and travelled through the roof of the centre, exiting through a maintenance room.

Matthew Piscopo, 19 was identified as one of the two prisoners on the run after escaping Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre.

They ran across the carpark and out of the centre.

It was discovered they had escaped about 10.30am the next morning.

The court heard Piscopo told police his escape was due to his being “the new kid on the block at Malmsbury” and “getting threatened and pushed and doing things he didn’t want to do” there.

He said others had asked him to get illicit substances and were threatening to “bash him”.

Piscopo asked to be moved to isolation or to a quieter unit, but his request was not granted.

He said he used a piece of metal from the sink to break through the justice centre’s plaster roof and escaped about 12am.

Tuohy then called a friend from a phone box near the prison and asked that he and Piscopo be picked up.

Piscopo called his mother, and the two escapees separated after the car ride.

Police found Piscopo at a home in Redan on August 8.

Piscopo appeared in the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

For the Malmsbury escape, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months’ cumulative imprisonment, with 38 days reckoned as already served.