Vic prison escapee recaptured

A man who escaped from a Victorian prison just hours before the state's acting premier toured the facility has been recaptured.

Matthew James Boland, 36, was discovered missing from the minimum-security Dhurringile Prison, near Murchison, on Monday morning.

The escape embarrassingly coincided with a visit to the facility by Acting Premier Peter Ryan and Corrections Minister Edward O'Donohue.

Boland was seen walking along the side of a road in Murchison around 8.30am (AEDT) on Friday morning by an off-duty prison officer who recognised him and contacted police.

Mr Boland is currently in police custody and assisting with enquiries.

Mr Ryan and Mr O'Donohue were at Dhurringile to inspect some of the jail's new portable cells, made from modified shipping containers, which have been introduced because of a chronic shortage of space in the state's jails and police custody.