The Pravieniškės prisoners who caused the scandal told how they had implemented the escape plan.

Both prisoners were locked up in a disciplinary group in a cell on the ground floor. The idea of ​​escaping occurred to them in April.

“I wanted to be free,” explained R. Kazakevičius, 46, why he decided to flee. 14 times before, the condemned man had spent an important part of his life behind bars.

Found the saw in the chamber

The prisoners managed to escape by cutting a grate rod. They explained that they found the broken hacksaw right in its chamber, inserted into the cabinet space.

The men began work on the afternoon of May 13. Initially checked to see if the cutout was making a lot of noise.

“There was almost no cutting sound. R. Kazakevičius was cut and I was looking in the mirror to see if the agents were coming, ”said E. Žilinskas, 25.

This process took about 40 minutes. After that, a rope a couple of meters long was entwined with the bedding, with which it was planned to cross the fences.

At around 2 p.m. the night things settled down, they decided to implement their plan. He pulled out the glass packet, then broke the severed rod, slipped through a small gap, and started running.

The first fence, about 10 feet high, was climbed by men without much effort. The second was almost twice as tall, outweighed by leaning on the electrical block, and then hooked and pulled from the overhanging pole.

The prisoners had also just jumped the third fence. The prisoners at that time had already been detected by the caretakers. One of them took a bike and tried to chase the fugitives and was right next to it. He threatened the prisoner by climbing the fence to shoot, but such intimidation did not bother them in any way, on the contrary, they only mocked the keeper.

“You can’t shoot,” replied E. Žilinskas, jumped off the fence and disappeared into the dark. Prisoners knew full well that amendments to the law prohibiting the use of a weapon in the event of a prisoner’s escape had come into effect since 2017 if it does not pose a threat to anyone.

He enjoyed the freedom briefly

All night the runners wandered through the forest until they reached the Neveroniai settlement. There, they were highlighted in black and they both turned towards Kaunas in different ways.

R. Kazakevičius requested a phone call to strangers he met in Kaunas. Calling the sister, she said she would come to see her soon. He then took a taxi and asked to be transported to the Pakruojis district.

When he got to his sister’s house, he told the taxi driver to wait until he took the money, but when he left, he did not return. On May 16, R. Kazakevičius was detained by officials at his sister’s home.

E. Žilinskas enjoyed his freedom even less. After arriving in Kaunas, he wandered the streets for a while and thought about visiting the house where he had lived before. Along the way, he met a girl he knew and went to see her. Police officers soon knocked on the apartment door.

The Kaunas District Court has already succeeded not only in investigating the escape case, but also in imposing sanctions.

E. Žilinskas, who has been convicted 11 times before, will have to spend another year behind bars for this crime. Combined with the previous sentence, he was imprisoned for 2 years and 9 months.

R. Kazakevičius, who has been recognized as a repeat offender, will have his sentence extended for a little over a year, he will not see his freedom for the next 4 years and 8 months.

Caused a scandal

This leak caused a scandal and shook the Pravieniškės correctional facility. Immediately after the incident, the entire management of the institution, along with the director Dainius Sušinskas, were removed from office. Currently, the institution is temporarily headed by Gintautas Šarauskas, Acting Deputy Director of the Department of Prisons.

The Ministry of Justice also initiated an unscheduled audit of the institution regarding the use of the state budget and other financial mechanisms at the Pravieniškės Correctional Center, an open colony.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the official inspection of the Department of Prisons should include inspections of the appropriate actions, training and infrastructure of officers.

“The circumstances of the events of the last day have also opened serious risks for the use of funds from both the state budget and other financial mechanisms, when the construction of the prison and the security system become an insurmountable barrier for dangerous people. The Ministry of Justice initiates an unscheduled audit to assess the factual circumstances of this problem, its systematic nature and the necessary measures to guarantee an adequate management of these risks in the future ”, says Deputy Minister Elanas Jablonskas.

The deputy minister stressed that the official audit and investigation will make it possible to identify problems and risks that must be prevented and that are not repeated in the future. For the moment, however, the key is finding fugitives. This was done with the help of the relevant authorities.