NT Police searching for 33-year-old Kris Cooper after escape from Darwin city watch house
A Top End manhunt continues for an escaped prisoner, who busted out of the Darwin Police Prison on Thursday afternoon.
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A fugitive who escaped from a police prison in the heart of Darwin remains at large 12 hours after his daylight escape.
On Friday morning Northern Watch Commander Steve Rankin confirmed police continued to search for 33-year-old Kris Cooper after he broke out of the Darwin Watch House, above the Knuckey St Coles.
Mr Rankin said Mr Cooper fled from custody sometime in a 90 minute period between 3.30pm and 5pm, Thursday.
He was last seen in the Karama area driving in a blue Great Wall utility vehicle with NT registration CF 69 NG.
Mr Cooper is described as a 178cm tall, medium build Aboriginal man with a medium complexion.
He was last seen wearing a low-security Corrections green T-shirt and blue shorts.
Police said while he does not pose a risk to the public, they are urged not to approach him and to instead immediately call 131 444, quoting the reference number P25036816.
As of January 30 were 48 people held in the former watch house, as the Territory’s Corrections population continues to overwhelm prison and police facilities.
This is not the first time prisoners have escaped from the Darwin Police Prison, with two men going on the run for 12 hours in September.
The pair used bed sheets to create a makeshift rope out of a broken window, before stealing a car and fleeing towards Wadeye.
At the time NT Corrections said it was reviewing “vulnerabilities” in the Darwin City watch-house.
However both corrections and police unions condemned the ongoing use of short-stint watch-house cells as unfit and unsafe for long-term prisoners.
The latest NT Ombudsman annual report flagged ongoing concern for the ongoing use of the “restrictive” watch house facilities.
“It is highly undesirable to hold prisoners there for extended periods and as anything more than a stopgap measure,” the report said.
“The facilities are not capable of being sufficiently improved to meet minimum standards and so should not be used in an ongoing capacity.”
More to come.
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Originally published as NT Police searching for 33-year-old Kris Cooper after escape from Darwin city watch house
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