Prisoner escape not ‘an inside job,’ Public Safety director says

State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai said today he has seen nothing to indicate murder suspect Teddy Munet received help from officials when he escaped from a loading bay at state Circuit Court downtown last Wednesday.

“I have serious doubts it was an inside job. … I believe it was an escape of opportunity,” Sakai said at a news conference.

Sakai said Munet and seven others on the van did not have leg iron shackles, in violation of  procedures that call for prisoners to be placed in leg irons during transport to and from court.

Munet ran away while getting out of a van at an exterior loading bay, instead of in an enclosed area inside the Circuit Court building.

Sakai said Munet still had his waist chains when caught, although he had managed to slip off his handcuffs. Munet, 29, was captured by police on Wai­manu Street, about eight blocks away from the courthouse, a little more than 11 hours after his escape.