Inmates who escaped Greenough prison last month reportedly feared for their lives during their arrest.

The Geraldton Aboriginal Legal Services who helped the inmates hand themselves over say that both escapees feared they would be shot or brutalised, due to previous violence against aboriginal prisoners.

Managing lawyer Kate Turtley-Chappel says “our client’s lived experience is one of police brutality, it’s one of mistrust, misrepresentation, and that’s a scary place to come from.”