Police in Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday captured a man who escaped earlier in the day from a local detention center. Hideki Shinohara, an indicted suspect in a local robbery-homicide case, escaped from the Kyomachi detention branch of the Kumamoto Prison at 10:35 a.m. He was apprehended at 11:10 a.m. on the grounds of a local hospital, 1 km from the detention center, the police said.
Shinohara, 31, escaped during calisthenics, which are held on the roof of the five-story detention center. He pushed aside the mesh that encloses the area, jumped from the roof, scaled the center's outside walls and fled, police said.
The escape came while a guard was away patrolling other areas, police said.
Police found him hiding in a thicket on the hospital grounds. Shinohara, who suffered fractured limbs in his escape attempt, surrendered immediately, the police said.
Kenkichi Sato, chief of the detention center, apologized for the escape and said detention center officials are investigating the incident.
Shinohara, who is unemployed and has no fixed address, was initially arrested by Gifu police in connection with an assault case in May. He made an abortive escape attempt while being questioned but was recaptured.
He was later found to be involved in a robbery-homicide case in the town of Nishigoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, in September 2000. He was sent to the Kumamoto police in August and later indicted.