HIROSHIMA -- An inmate who escaped from a prison work facility in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, was detained by police on Monday near JR Hiroshima Station.
According to the Hiroshima and Ehime prefectural police, Tatsuma Hirao, 27, was found on a street in Minami Ward, Hiroshima, and arrested on suspicion of fleeing from Matsuyama Prison's Oi shipyard.
Hirao left the shipyard on the evening of April 8. After temporarily concealing himself on Mukaishima island in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, he swam across the river to the opposite shore, Hiroshima prefectural police quoted him as saying.
Both prefectural police are to investigate Hirao's escape routes and motives, they said.
Signs of his presence were found on the island in the Seto Inland Sea, including a car that was stolen near the shipyard. Thefts of items including cash and sandals were also reported on the island, prompting police to focus their search there.
Hirao, who was sentenced to jail for theft and other minor crimes, had been transferred to the Oi shipyard. His term was expected to end January 2020.
The Oi shipyard is a facility for model prisoners to be rehabilitated while working. The facility is known as an open-type prison with no perimeter walls, and its prisoners' cells have no iron bars on the windows.
Following Hirao's escape, the justice authority has indicated a plan to review the surveillance system.
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