The head of South Australia's prison system says his department is embarrassed that a prisoner managed to escape while being transported in a prison bus yesterday morning.
Shane Gauci, 41, remains on the run after he escaped when the bus stopped to fill up at an On The Run petrol station in Newton on Monday.
Department for Correctional Services chief executive David Brown said it would conduct an internal investigation into how and why the escape occurred.
"Any escape from custody is unacceptable and of course we are embarrassed when we have someone escape from custody," Mr Brown said.
"But I am in no way concerned about the way we work with SAPOL (South Australia Police).
"In these matters we are very experienced in collaborating together as two agencies — I thank SAPOL for their immediate response when the alarm was raised."
After the incident, both agencies told the media the other was leading the search, and it took more than 12 hours for them to release any information about Gauci.
He was taking part in a "low security" community program for pre-release prisoners when he escaped.
"I often wonder why prisoners make stupid decisions and clearly this was a really stupid decision and what it will do is mean that the man will be brought back into the criminal justice system and will face further criminal charges," Mr Brown said.
"He certainly has a long history with the criminal justice system and with corrections and he does have prior breaches of parole and back in I think 2011 had breached a home detention order by being unlawfully at large."
Gauci was serving the last 12 months of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
He is described as Caucasian, 180 centimetres tall, 95 kilograms and with brown hair.
He was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt, khaki pants and black boots.
The matter will also be the subject of an ongoing police investigation.
Police said Shane Gauci should not be approached and anyone who sees him should call 131 444 immediately.
