Finnish triple murderer escapes from minimum security prison

Police in Finland and Sweden on alert

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Convicted triple murderer Juha Valjakkala, who currently goes under the name Nikita Joakim Fouganthine, escaped from the Hamina Work Colony run by the Finnish Prison Service in the south coast city of Hamina on Monday night.
      Valjakkala was last seen at the minimum security penal facility at roll call Monday evening at about 10:00 PM.
      His absence was noticed at eight in the morning, on Tuesday, which means that the escapee could have a head start of up to ten hours.
      Hamina police think that Valjakkala will probably try to get to Sweden.
      Lea Lehtonen, the director of the facility, believes that Valjakkala had simply walked out a door. She said that the doors are locked at night, but that they are easy to get open if someone wants to leave.
      She noted that it is fairly easy to leave the minimum security facility. No other inmates escaped with him.
     
The Hamina Work Colony is located about one kilometre from the centre of Hamina. The inmates often work outside the institution.
      Esa Vesterbacka, director-general of the Prison Service, does not feel that Valjakkala is especially dangerous.
      "He has undergone a security assessment, in which he was seen fit to be placed in an open prison. However, Valjakkala is unpredictable, as this situation shows", Vesterbacka notes.
      Erkki Mäkelä of the Hamina Police says that it is difficult to say what Valjakkala’s state of mind might be.
      "He has been moving among civilians without supervision before. However, he must have some reason for leaving without permission."
     
Valjakkala has been on furlough at least twice this autumn. At least once this took place without supervision.
      Valjakkala was given a life sentence for murder in Sweden in 1989. He had killed three members of the same family at a cemetery in Åmsele in the north of Sweden in 1988.
      He was transferred to Finland to serve his sentence.
      Valjakkala has applied for clemency from the President several times. In January the Supreme Court recommended that he be pardoned. Esa Vesterbacka says that it is likely that the escape will delay his possible release.
     
Swedish police, customs, and border patrol are on alert in case Valjakkala enters the country.
      "As he has been given a lifetime deportation from Sweden, he is to be held if he is seen", says Varg Gyllander, spokesperson for the Swedish Central Criminal Police.
      News of Valjakkala’s flight has sparked anguish in Åmsele. "Naturally this causes disquiet among some residents, especially among the generation that was here when the tragedy took place", said Pastor Arvid Dsinnejs to Sweden’s TT news agency.
     
On Wednesday a spokesman for Finland's National Bureau of investigation said that Valjakkala is believed to still be in Finland.


Links:
  Finnish Prison Service

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