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Hells Angels member Rene Charlebois escapes minimum-security prison without much fuss

René Charlebois escaped from a minimum security prison in Laval, Que., on Saturday night

A full-fledged Hells Angels member jailed following a massive gang trial in Quebec has disappeared over the weekend from the minimum-security prison where he was incarcerated.

René Charlebois, 48, was confirmed missing from the Montée St-François Institution in Laval, Que., late Saturday evening.

CBC News reports that Charlebois was being held in the minimum-security prison after pleading guilty to a massive gang trial in Quebec in 2003, and to the charge of second-degree murder the following year.

Correctional Service of Canada has said it is too soon to determine how he escaped, but Charlebois certainly left without much fuss. It wasn't until the evening roll call that anyone noticed his absence.

When a member of the Hells Angels, or anyone really, is arrested, charged and convicted of murder, the hope is the justice system can keep him behind bars at least until he is allowed to come out.

[ Related: Hells Angel escapes from Laval minimum security prison ]

This isn't a white collar criminal, or a tax evader, who escaped. A full-fledged member of Canada's largest criminal organization, who has been convicted of the second-degree murder of a police informant, decided he had enough of prison life and, simply, left.

Why he was being held in a minimum-security prison is unclear.

According to Correctional Service Canada, minimum security prisons are like small communities for inmates almost ready to return to society. In some cases, inmates who began at institutions with higher levels of security can progress through the system.

"There is no barbed wired fence and there are no armed officers, since inmates in these institutions have been deemed very low risk," reads an explanation.

And, yet, this isn't the first time an inmate has escaped minimum-security custody recently.

[ More Brew: Does one guilty verdict from G20 Summit get justice served? ]

On Sept. 6, two men disappeared from the minimum-security William Head Institution in Victoria, B.C. Brian Patrick, serving a life term for second-degree murder, and Dean Allen Thomas Benton, sentenced for multiple robberies, were later recaptured.

On the same day, two men sentenced on breaking and entering charges escaped a minimum-security prison in central Alberta.

In each case, the inmates escaped the prison without struggle. In each case, their absence wasn't noticed until evening roll call.

A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told the National Post that the series of jailbreaks would be discussed with Correctional Service officials.

There is now a Canada-wide arrest warrant out for Charlebois. Perhaps if he is recaptured, he could be asked politely to return to prison and stay there until the end of his sentence.

Please and thank you.

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