Prison escape in Duisburg: inmate saws through bar and climbs over roof
A 35-year-old Serb escaped from Duisburg-Hamborn prison on Sunday morning – using a saw, lever and façade climbing. Police searched for him until the afternoon.
Inmate flees JVA Duisburg-Hamborn with sawn-through bar
Bar sawn through, window grille forced open, façade scaled: In the early hours of Sunday, a 35-year-old remand prisoner succeeded in a spectacular escape from JVA Duisburg-Hamborn. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the man's cell was on the third floor – the roof he fled over is one storey higher.
Until late afternoon there was no trace of the fugitive, as a spokesman for Duisburg police confirmed. In the afternoon, the authorities released a wanted appeal. The man is reportedly 1.75 metres tall and slim. He bears a striking tattoo on his right upper arm – a woman's head. In the past, he is said to have identified himself multiple times using partly false personal documents.
Burglaries, custody and more than €200,000 in stolen cash
The Serbian national had been in remand custody since 10 February on suspicion of theft. At the end of May, he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for two residential burglaries causing substantial damage – a verdict that is not yet final. During his burglaries, he is said to have stolen valuable jewellery as well as more than €200,000 in cash.
Hidden compartment in floor, table as lever
After the escape, it emerged that the inmate had created a hidden compartment in the floor of his cell – possibly for storing tools. "A cunning hiding place," said a spokesman for the Justice Ministry. The hollow space beneath the linoleum floor near a cell wall apparently went unnoticed during cell inspections; however, no tools were found in it.
Investigators believe the man had sawn through the window bar on the inside of the courtyard over an extended period. He then used the cell table as a lever to force open the fine grille. He then squeezed through the narrow gap, climbed the façade on the inside up to the roof – and descended on the outside in an unknown manner. The institution is located in the middle of the city and has no additional wall on the outside.
Justice Minister Limbach under pressure
The escape puts North Rhine-Westphalia Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Alliance 90/The Greens) under political pressure. Limbach is already facing criticism, among other things for corruption allegations against prison staff, whom he is said to have informed too late about.
"A bar does not disappear on its own. Justice Minister Limbach must explain how the man was able to obtain the necessary tools," declared the SPD parliamentary group. SPD deputy Sonja Bongers questioned whether Limbach was still capable of remedying security deficiencies in NRW's prison system in a timely manner.
The minister responded quickly: he informed about the incident on Sunday morning of his own volition and immediately sent a security expert from his ministry to the institution. "We will investigate thoroughly how this security gap could have arisen, in order to draw the necessary conclusions from the results immediately," said Limbach.
Classic escapes in NRW rare for years
In fact, escapes from closed prisons in North Rhine-Westphalia are considered extremely rare. According to the Justice Ministry, a comparable incident last occurred in mid-June of the previous year at JVA Bielefeld-Senne – when an inmate overcame a rolling door just under three metres high and subsequently a wall. However, the authorities classified this case not as an escape but as an "abscondence" from open detention.
Such abscondings or late returns from day release or parole occur regularly according to a justice spokesman – 174 such cases were registered in 2024. There was no classic escape among them. "Generally speaking, we have very escape-proof prison management, as you can see from the figures," said the spokesman.
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung