Four Prisoners Have Been Caught Breaking Back into Jail After Escaping

Four prisoners have been caught by police in far north Australia, trying to break back into the prison they escaped from just hours earlier.

In what can only be explained as four mates trying to have a Saturday night out on the town, Christopher Keene, Ian Mamarika, Jayras Manggurra, and Xavier Nundhirriballa snuck out of Darwin's Holtze prison just after roll call on the evening of May 7.

Guards spotted the group scaling the fence around 7 PM, but decided not to go after them. "It was dark and the prisoners can hop into the bush pretty quick," the prison's executive director of custodial operations, Bill Carroll, explained. "There are only two staff down here and to leave the immediate area and chase prisoners is not in our protocols."

Instead, Northern Territory police sent out a warning to locals via Facebook.

"It's pretty evident the prisoners didn't intend to escape long-term," Carroll

told the ABC

. "They obviously went into the bushes and were mischievous with the intention to come back." And he was completely right. Around 1 AM the next morning, guards spotted the cheeky escapees trying to get back in.

All four have now been transferred from minimum to high-security, and face an additional three months behind bars for their Bueller-esque antics. But what were they doing out there, during those precious few hours?

With the prisoners remaining silent about their motives all we're left with is wild Facebook speculation: Were they trying to pick up last minute Mother's Day gifts, maybe a simple Maccas run?

This isn't the first time this has happened at Northern Territory prisons. Back when Holtze was called Berrimah, before a $500 million upgrade, prisoners were suspected of repeatedly breaking out of the facility during the day, sinking a few beers, and then sneaking back in before roll call.

Just last year, two teenagers broke out of Darwin's Don Dale youth detention centre before returning two days later in the ultimate getaway car—a stolen white hatchback. The pair rammed the car into the facility's front door until they were let in, and did burnouts in the yard before finally handing themselves over.

We just have to remember that some birds aren't meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright.