A prisoner escaped from the Blenheim police station yesterday after kicking a hole through an exterior plaster wall.

He then called The Marlborough Express while on the run to complain about the way he had been treated by police.

He said after previous arrests he had been physically and psychologically abused by officers. "A lot of human rights are being breached."

BEN CURRAN/Marlborough Express UNDER REPAIR: A hole in Blenheim police station's exterior wall after Leonard Ivor McMillan escaped yesterday.

Acting Marlborough area commander Senior Sergeant Ciaran Sloan, of Blenheim, said the man had not been mistreated at the Blenheim police station at any time.

He said Leonard Ivor McMillan, 26, a plasterer, was being held at the station for breaching bail when he escaped about 11.30am from a prisoner phone room.

McMillan had been at the police station less than an hour when he escaped, Mr Sloan said. He had been in the phone booth in the cell block to call his lawyer.

Mr Sloan said McMillan had been told police opposed bail because he was on numerous active charges, some of a serious nature.

After the escape, police checked several houses of "known associates" before enquiries led them to a house on Holdaway St, Riversdale about 1pm, Mr Sloan said.

Four police cars parked in the street and officers, including a police dog handler, entered the home.

A 28-year-old unemployed male was arrested for obstructing police before McMillan emerged in handcuffs. McMillan was charged with escaping custody, wilful damage and resisting police.

Mr Sloan said a builder was fixing the hole in the wall at the police station. Police would not check the strength of other walls in the station, he said. "It's a very unusual set of circumstances where he has escaped. Numerous prisoners have used the facility before without incident."

McMillan had propped himself up using a bench in the booth, using his height to his advantage, and kicked the wall with two feet, he said. "It's a one-off to the point that this prisoner was extremely tall, two metres in height. I doubt that people of average or above average height could achieve what he did."

The Police Independent Complaints Authority had been advised of the escape.

Mr Sloan said the authority visited the Blenheim police station cells last year, as part of a nationwide "sweep" of cellblocks, and made some "minor recommendations" which were carried out. He would not say what those recommendations were.

McMillan told the Marlborough Express he had been on bail since November 2009 when he was arrested after a fight.

He pleaded not guilty and was frustrated his case was still going through the courts. "The system's really tragic."

He was remanded in custody until Monday when he appeared in the Blenheim District court today.