Some residents of Miramar Peninsula say an escape from Wellington Prison proves the jail should never have been re-opened.
A Corrections Department spokesperson says one prisoner, who may have escaped by climbing on to a roof and jumping over the prison wall, was caught in under an hour, and three other inmates were caught trying to escape.
The 82-year-old facility, also known as Mt Crawford Prison, was mothballed in June last year, but re-opened in July to cope with the rising prison muster.
Allan Probert, who chairs Enterprise Miramar Peninsula, says the Corrections Department has done a "patch up" job on the old jail.
"We haven't had any consultation ... they haven't told us what's been spent on it to bring it up to spec," he says.
Mr Probert says the department hasn't told the community how many prisoners are being housed there nor what kind of prisoner.
Brownwyn Donaldson of the Corrections Department says the security breach is being treated very seriously and a review is underway to find out how it occurred.
