AN AMAZING FEAT

Hokitika Guardian, 21 January 1932, Page 8

AN AMAZING FEAT

CONVICT BREAK'S GAOL

SYDNEY, Jamiurv 7

Yatala Prison, near Adelaide. in South (Australia, is easily the most none ion: in Australia, for it has been the scene of more remarkable escapes than any other. It was one of the first of the 'treat Australian gaols in which the honour system operated, and it cannot be said that the system was a great success. Of late years it has been considerably modified, and it was in no wav responsible for the. sensational escape the other day of w dangerous criminal, Ernest Albert .Richards, who occupied one of the strongest cells. He was undergoing a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment for robbery under arms at the A 1 be fit on Post Office in 1930, when he and two other men bailed up, bound and gagged a young employee and then broke open the safe. The cell from which Richards escaped is one of an island block of four, situated in the main yard of the prison, and used for the separate confinement of prisoners who have broken prison regulations. Richards had been in separate confinement for about three weeks, during which time he had to work in his cell or in the small yard measuring about 20 feet by 10 feet attached to it,, and surrounded 'by a wall 20 feet in height. The inner door of the cell is a steel VIP, locked by the ordinary type of door lock, which would not present any difficulty'to an experienced lock picker. ■Outside the grille and practically flush against it there is a thick wooden door secured by three lever padlock s on the outer side. There is a peep hole in this outer door to enable the guards to see the inmate of the cell.

The only way in which the outer door could be unlocked would be for a prisoner to pass his arms through the peep hole and unlock the padlocks, This would be extremely difficult, ns the padlock® are placed too low on the door for a man to reach them with his hands. It is considered that Richards must have had the key, and must have fastened it on to a stick or a piece of pipe such as an electric light conduit, the top end ot which was bent at light angles to enable him to exert sufficient leverage to turn the locks, lo prevent the key from falling to the ground should it become dt.tacbed to the thing from which it was fastened, he may have had a piece of string tied to it. •Jree out of the cell Richards had to escape from the exercise yard, across the top of which are stretched iron bars covered with wire netting. These iron bars are .strengthened at intervals with cross pieces. Richards probably climbed on his cell door, hung by his hands from one of the cross ‘bars, and pressed with his feet against a parallel bar about thiee feet away. Probably by this means he forced two of the bars sufficiently far apart to enable him to squeeze through. Then he tore the wire netting apart, and scrambled through.. To enable him to climb ithe walls, iti<-hards provided hfenseV With a from his coir bed mat. lo me.sc a h*.u., ito attach to the end of the rope. ! Richards tore a length of electric light conduit from the wall and bent it. Apparently no difficulty was experienced in scaling the 18 feat outer wall by this means, as the rope was found dangling against the outside of the wall the day after the.escape.

When the guards changed shifts at midnight Richards was in his cell, but he was missing at 6 a.m. Four guards were on duty on the night ol the escape. The guards examine the walls and outbuildings in their tour, .and they have, also, to punch time clocks situated in various portions ot the prison at stated times. One such clock is situated near the separate confinement cells. Once .this clock has been punched Richards would have had practically half an hour to escape. That he wa R able to perform such a difficult feat in so short a time was remarkable, and the prison authorities are as amazed at liis audacity as they are at his success.