Prisoner Branded Escapee Had Actually Finished His Jail Term
After issuing an island-wide alert and putting in place a police team that has spent countless number of hours looking for an alleged escaped prisoner, the Bureau of Public Safety has suspended the search and issued a mea culpa statement and a public apology to Arnold Milong for the error.
Human error is attributed to the calculation of jail time which lead the police to rule that he has escaped.
“We have discovered that thru human error in the calculation of jail time of which Arnold Milong was to serve in the Koror Jail, lead to the public announcement that he has escaped,” states a BPS public announcement issued at the end of the day today, 22 April 2016.
Milong was scheduled to be released on March 14, 2016, but was held for almost a month beyond his released date. The police statement said they had erroneously estimated Milong’s release date as 19 April 2016.
Milong was discovered missing on a routine headcount during a change of shift at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 8, 2016, which triggered a search alert with his “wanted” posters spread all over town.
This is the "Wanted" Poster circulated branding Palau Prisoner as an escapee, when in fact he walked out of jail after finishing his jail term.
“The Bureau of Public Safety and its’ Division of Correction would like to extend its’ most sincerest apologies to Mr. Arnold Milong and his family for this error,” Bureau of Public Safety apologized.
“The Bureau of Public Safety, Ministry of Justice would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere thanks to the media and the general public for their cooperation in regards to inmate: Arnold Milong.
