Risdon Prison jailbreaker gets extra seven months behind bars

Graham John Enniss, who scaled the walls of Risdon Prison using prison bedding, said he thought it was a “good idea at the time”.

Tasmania Police search for Graham John Enniss in Geilston Bay on Monday evening. Graham John Enniss, 38, of Smithton, was sentenced to eight years’ prison in 2016 for shooting a firearm towards police, broke out of Risdon Prison about 8.30am on September 23, 2019, Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

GRAHAM John Enniss, who fashioned his prison bedding into a makeshift rope to escape Risdon Prison last year, will spend an extra seven months behind bars for his highly publicised jailbreak.

After a large-scale manhunt that included the use of a helicopter and the Special Operations Group on September 23, the 38-year-old finally pleaded guilty to one count of escape in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Friday.

It came after a series of court adjournments since Enniss was apprehended by police less than 24 hours after his escape, hiding in bushes at Risdon Vale wearing clothes he’d pinched off a nearby clothesline.

Escaped prisoner Graham John Enniss.

Magistrate Robert Webster heard Enniss has previous convictions for escape and attempted escape, including one episode in which he ran away from police custody in Smithton.

On the eve of his escape, he was serving an eight-year stint at Risdon Prison when he saw an opportunity to flee and head back home to Smithton.

He and fellow prisoner Shaun Anthony Dennison climbed from a prison rooftop using scaffolding that had been erected.

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Dennison was caught and later given a three-month concurrent jail sentence, the court heard.

But Enniss “ran from staff through the prison until he escaped from sight”, a prosecutor said on Friday.

He later today his lawyer, Burnie-based Stephen Wright, he thought it was a “good idea at the time”.

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