A 52-year-old prisoner who was mistakenly released from the Darwin Correctional Centre, two months before his sentence was due to end, has been found by police following a search.
Clinton Daylight, who is believed to be in custody for violent offending, was accidentally freed by corrections staff on Wednesday, and was last seen at 4:30pm that day at the Darwin Bus Exchange.
After a police search for the man that began the following day, just after 3:30pm on Friday NT police confirmed the man had been found and apprehended.
“The 52-year-old male was located and arrested without incident in the Darwin CBD by Fugitive Task Force members,” a police spokesperson said.
“He has been returned to custody.”
The prisoner was released from Darwin Correctional Centre, based in the suburb of Holtze. (ABC News: Gemma Ferguson)
A Department of Corrections spokesperson blamed Daylight’s mistaken release on an “administration error made by corrections staff” and said “a full internal review” was underway to determine how it had happened.
“Preliminary information indicates the error arose from the incorrect interpretation of a notice of suspended sentence at the point of reception processing,” a spokesperson from the department said.
“The error was identified during routine warrant reconciliation processes, and immediate steps were taken once it was detected.”
At a press conference on Friday morning, NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole said “extensive resources” had been assigned to the search for Daylight, after police were notified of his release on Thursday, more than 12 hours after it occurred.
On Friday morning, Martin Dole said he was confident police would find Clinton Daylight. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)
He said a specialist fugitive task force had been making enquires in Katherine and surrounds, as well as in Darwin, where Daylight was eventually located.
“We’ve got a significant amount of police resources out looking for this person that should be back into custody,” Commissioner Dole said at the time.