Inmate's dash for freedom ends in car yard

Police have found a prisoner who escaped from custody while on a dentist's visit in Tawa, north of Wellington, this morning.

The woman is a prisoner at Arohata Women's Prison in Tawa and was not handcuffed when she made her bid for freedom.

Inspector Jim Taare said she was found 18 minutes later, in a car rental yard a few hundred metres from where she'd escaped.

There were no problems with her capture, he said.

The woman has been returned to prison, where authorities will decide whether she will be charged with escaping from lawful custody.

- NZPA