Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A female inmate, who recently escaped confinement from the Tafuna Correctional Facility (TCF), was apprehended on the same day after she and her 29-year-old boyfriend allegedly hatched an escape plan so she could go home to have sex with him and “eat good food”.

Court filings revealed that on July 14, 2023 at 6 PM, Chris Amituana’i contacted Senara Patu via cell phone and planned an escape for her. According to the police report, Amituana’i, told her that the plan was for him to wait in a taxi at Lions Park across from the Territorial Administration On Aging building while she looked for a way to escape.

At 7p.m, Amituana’i saw the inmate standing outside the gate, and then allegedly had the taxi drive up to where she was and proceeded to the inmate’s home in Pago Pago. The inmate and her boyfriend spent about an hour or so there, where the inmate showered and ate, and apparently had sex with her boyfriend, according to the filings.

By 9pm, they phoned a taxi to pick them up, and as they were making their way back to TCF, the taxi driver turned the car around at Fagaalu park, and drove to the hospital intersection where a police unit was parked.

Both individuals were then escorted into the police vehicle and brought to the Fagatogo Police Station, where they were questioned by officers and then transported to TPS for further investigation.

According to the inmate’s statement, she said that she was outside the women’s holding facility playing volleyball with another female inmate when the ball had gone over the wall. She then proceeded to retrieve the ball, and she noticed there were no Correctional Officers in sight, and observed that the main gate wasn’t secure.

She then walked up to the gate, unlatched the padlock and went outside.

Patu further states she waited for a bit to see if a Correctional Officer would notice her leaving TCF, and when no one came outside, she started walking on the main road, when a taxi with her boyfriend in it pulled up.

At 12 a.m. on July 15, 2023, the defendant was Mirandized and wrote a statement, and then was transported to TCF to be confined, again.

Patu is being charged with one count — escape from confinement — and was given no bail.

It’s not known at this time, if her boyfriend will be facing any charges.