‘Dangerous’ Prison Inmate Who Escaped From Concord Hospital Captured On North Fruit Street

CONCORD, NH — Concord police and other law enforcement agencies spent more than two hours on Friday night searching for a prison inmate who escaped custody at Concord Hospital and was on loose in the West End.

The man, identified as Benjamin Ayala, 36, was a “C-5 level inmate,” who was “considered dangerous,” according to dispatch, was captured in the early morning hours of Saturday morning.

Concord police were called to the hospital around 10 p.m. after the corrections department asked for help finding Ayala, who escaped their custody. He reportedly fled toward the Rum Hill Road and Pleasant View Retirement Center area. Ayala was described as a Hispanic man, bald, wearing a gray or blue sweatshirt, with gray shorts with black pants underneath.

An officer reported Ayala was last seen in a hospital stairwell, but they did not know if he had left the building or campus. At around 10:30 p.m., an officer reported, “There’s next to no video footage of this guy leaving” the building. The watch commander reported the inmate might still have shackles on, too. Other police officers said corrections officers chased him out of the building, and he was heading east.

A New Hampshire State Police helicopter was requested, but they could not send it out due to the weather. Dispatch later stated they were bringing two drones to the city to assist with the search. Allenstown police also arrived to the city to assist.

Officers searched the hospital area and were heard or seen reporting from Rum Hill Road, School Street, Kensington Road, Kent Street, Langley Parkway, Dwinell Drive, Palmer Avenue, Fisk Road, Long Pond Road, and Little Pond Road, and trails around the hospital, including Winant Park.

Around 10:45 p.m., one officer reported finding fresh footprints in the snow. A K-9 unit also tracked scents outside the campus area in the Rum Hill residential neighborhood.

A taxi driver reported seeing a Hispanic man with black pants with a white stripe on the side and a beany trying to flag him down in the area of North Main and Pleasant streets around 11:30 p.m. but did not know if he was connected to the case. Police and state troopers then headed to Downtown Concord. Later, they returned to the search area.

At just past midnight, a man was reportedly seen on the ground in the area of North Fruit Street. Officers were sent to the area and the man began to run from them. A few minutes later, police reported the man was Ayala and he was in custody. Corrections officers then came to the area to take custody of him.

News 603 posted a video from the scene on Facebook.

Ayala has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2007 when he was convicted on a criminal threatening charge out of Derry. A burglary charge during the same incident was nolle prossed. Later, he was found guilty by a jury of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and simple assault charges in Derry from 2007.

While in the Rockingham County Jail, in 2008, Ayala was charged and found guilty of aggravated felonious sexual assault, assault by a prisoner, and 10 counts of witness tampering. One other prison rape charge was dismissed.

Ayala was also charged with criminal mischief and unlawful interference with a fire alarm apparatus charges, which were dropped later.

In 2013, the Portsmouth Herald wrote a story about prison rapes in the Rockingham County Jail, which mentioned the Ayala case. He was sentenced to five to 10 years for raping the fellow inmate. According to scanner chatter, Ayala was up for parole in 2045.

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