A female inmate who escaped from the Co-Educational Facility was traced and returned to lock-up, a spokeswoman for the national security ministry said yesterday.

She added that the prisoner went missing on Thursday morning, which triggered a joint search conducted by police and prison staff.

The woman was found about 30 minutes later.

The spokeswoman said that a “full and thorough investigation” into the escape was being carried out.

She declined to release further details on the woman involved.

Timothy Seon, the president of the Prison Officers Association, said that the prisons had always had security problems.

He added: “Typically, this is the sort of stuff that happens when you cut back on the budget of particular services that require a certain allocated budget in order to facilitate the service it’s mandated to do.

“With a shortage of staff and things of that nature, there’s human error.”

But Mr Seon said: “As it pertains to this particular matter, I can’t give any details because I’m not abreast – although I have heard that someone was unaccounted for.”