Dec 17, 2007 3:00 pm US/Eastern
Escaped N.J. Inmate Leaves Note Thanking Guard
Comparisons Drawn Between Real-Life And Film Jailbreaks
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) ―
Authorities are reviewing security at the Union County Jail as the hunt continues for two inmates who made a brazen escape from what was supposed to be the most secure area of the facility.
Authorities say one of the inmates, Joe Espinosa, left behind a note thanking a guard for tools.
"I'm extremely disturbed that a jail with the capability of security it has would foster a breach of this nature," County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Monday's newspapers.
Romankow said he wasn't amused by the similarities between Saturday's real escape and the cinematic one in the Clint Eastwood film "Escape from Alcatraz."
"This isn't fiction; this is real life," he said. "It is dangerous for other people, and I don't find it entertaining."
Already, inmates are being barred from pinning up pictures from magazines on the walls of their cells.
Espinosa, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a 2005 drive-by shooting, and Otis Blunt, awaiting trial for robbery and weapons charges in connection with the 2005 shooting of a convenience store manager, were both in the special housing unit.
They were locked alone in their adjacent cells 23 hours a day.
Authorities said they had no connections other than being neighbors in jail. But they had something else in common: they're both wiry men.
Police say Espinosa removed a cement cinder block from the wall between their cells.
On Saturday, he squeezed into Blunt's cell, then removed a wall of his neighbor's cell. The two men squeezed through that hole and around some exposed rebar on the outside of the jail, then dropped to a rooftop below.
Authorities say they dropped to a roof 35-feet above the ground, cleared a 25-foot fence and fled.
They tried to cover their tracks by leaving dummies made of pillows and sheets in their beds.
They also pinned pictures of bikini-wearing women to cover the holes they left in the cell walls.
Romankow said the ban on pinups is just the first step in addressing security protocols.
Every element of jail security will be assessed, he said, including the layout of the jail.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
