Four inmates, including a man convicted of two murders, bolted Wednesday morning from a county jail in north-central Kansas where they were being held because the state prison system was too crowded.
The breakout, accomplished by prisoners using homemade knives and a ruse of a broken water pipe, underscores a longstanding debate in Kansas about prisons and spending priorities. The state, once regarded as a model for keeping its prison census under control, has seen its inmate population rise in recent years.
…
Jeremy Barclay, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections, could provide no other details.
“We are so caught up with trying to find the inmates right now, while we certainly know a little bit about the actual escape, we will be delving into that more once we secure the public’s safety by having them back in our incarceration,” Barclay said.
…
(from Kansas City Star: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/18/3563389/inmates-flee-jail-in-kansas.html)