It was the question on everyone's lips last week: what prompts a young inmate to escape from a minimum security prison with less than a month left on his sentence?

The answer depends of who you're willing to believe –the criminal himself or the people tasked with housing him.

Police say Shaun Primmer escaped Unanderra prison last week to avoid being transferred to another facility.

Shaun Primmer sparked a 24-hour manhunt by Corrective Services staff and later police when he absconded from the Illawarra Reintegration Centre at Unanderra sometime between 11pm last Thursday and 1.30am on Friday.

Primmer had been serving a five-month non-parole period for driving and theft offences and had been due to be released back into the community on February 4.