U.S. citizen on the run after busting out of Bali prison

DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian police are hunting for a U.S. citizen who escaped on Monday from an overcrowded prison on the holiday island of Bali by cutting through steel bars in a ceiling, the jail’s second breakout of foreign inmates this year.

The Kerobokan prison, about 10 km (six miles) from the main tourist beaches in the Kuta area, often holds foreigners facing drug-related charges.

FILE PHOTO: A prisoner prays in front of Kerobokan prison in Denpasar, on the Indonesian island of Bali, Indonesia March 1, 2015. REUTERS/Beawiharta/File Photo

Cristian Beasley, who was a suspect in crimes related to narcotics but had not been sentenced, escaped at 4.10 a.m. (2010 GMT Sunday), said Badung Police chief Yudith Satria Hananta.

“It is thought that the prisoner escaped ... by cutting through the steel bars above the ceiling,” he said in a statement, without giving details of how Beasley escaped without being detected.

Beasley, 32, from California, is believed to have then used a rope to climb down a wall before getting over a perimeter wall in an area being refurbished.