Serial prison escapee gets jail time cut

A man who escaped custody three times and attempted a fourth jail break has won an appeal and a three-year cut to his minimum 17-year jail sentence for a string of offences.

Michael Dean Rowe escaped from police cells in Adelaide in 1986, from the Yatala Prison in 1987 and from a prison in Port Augusta in 1990.

But his appeal related to a sentence he is serving for a criminal trespass in May 2001, for shooting with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in June 2001 and for attempting to escape from Mobilong Prison in 2012.

Rowe successfully argued that his 17-year non-parole period was manifestly excessive, with the South Australian Court of Criminal Appeal cutting it to 14 years on Wednesday.

In his reasons Justice Kevin Nicholson said Rowe, 52, had offended extensively as a child and had spent most of his adult life in prison.

But the judge said if his current minimum term was allowed to stand, Rowe would not be released until 2022 and by that time he would have spent the previous 38 years in custody.

He said to allow the current sentence to stand would result in a significant miscarriage of justice.

The changes mean Rowe will now be released about the end of September, 2018.