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UPDATE: Inmate recaptured after escape from Fraser Valley prison

Ralph Radford Chourchene was serving time for vicious gang attacks in Winnipeg
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An inmate at a minimum security federal institution near Harrison Mills was returned to the institution at 7:50 a.m. Friday Sept. 22 after escaping the day before.

A warrant had been issued after Ralph Radford Courchene was found to be missing from Kwìkwèxwelhp healing Village during a count Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.

A press release from the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) states a second offender, Jeremy Vojkovic had also aided in the escape but had returned to the prison in time for the nightly count.

Courchene was sentenced in 2011 after he and fellow members of a Winnipeg street gang bear sprayed a man and then stabbed a man who had been riding his bike. The man suffered major blood loss and a broken rib and had a portion of his lung removed. The Winnipeg Sun reported that three days after that incident, Courchene and his gang attacked a second man, leaving him with a fractured skull and stab wounds.

“Ensuring the safety and security of institutions, staff, and public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system,” reads a statement from the CSC.

Courchene is currently serving a sentence of nine years, six months for contempt of court and aggravated assault.