The two prisoners who escaped from Kvíabryggja, an open prison on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, last night, have been arrested at Þingvellir National Park.
Kvíabryggja is an open prison, located in a rural community near Grundarfjörður, and prisoners are free to roam the area during the day, but must return by check-in time, at a certain hour every evening.
The two prisoners, both in their early twenties, did not report back last night, and when local search efforts proved unfruitful, police were alerted.
Police at Selfoss were notified of suspicious activity at Þingvellir early this morning, and when police arrived at the scene the two men were discovered.
No explanation has been given for why the two decided to go to Þingvellir, or how they got there, but Þingvellir is in South Iceland, several hours drive from Kvíabryggja, and not particularly close to any major metropolitan area.
Páll Winkel, director of the Icelandic Prison Service, said neither of the two were considered dangerous. Both were serving sentences for minor drug-possession and embezzlement charges, and had been at Kvíabryggja for less than two weeks.
“Events such as these will always cast a shadow on the [open and unrestricted] conditions of the inmates, but keep in mind the remaining 21 other prisoners, who did not leave the area. A comparable incident has not occurred in almost three decades, and so concluding that changes are necessary, is a fallacy,” says in an announcement from Afstaða, an interest group for an improved criminal justice system.
