The night-walkers of Uganda

Thanks for the tools! Jailbreakers taunt guards
Level 1
Elementary
Key words
1
Find the information
2
Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible.
1. How much money has been offered as a reward?
2. How many prisoners escaped?
3. What were the numbers of their cells?
4. How big was the hole they escaped through?
5. How old is Otis Blunt?
6. How tall is he?
268

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Thanks for the tools! Jailbreakers 
taunt guards
• Hunt on for two prisoners after movie-style breakout
• Escapees used pinups to cover holes in cell walls
Ed Pilkington in New York 
December 19, 2007
Two prisoners have escaped from a jail in New 
Jersey, USA. The escape was just like the 
ones people see in the movies. The men left 
a handwritten note for their guard, which said: 
“Thank you for the tools we needed. You’re a real 
friend! Happy holidays.” They also signed it with 
a smiley face. 
The prisoners escaped from a high-security 
section of the jail using just a thick metal wire 
and a metal wheel used to turn off water pipes. 
The escape showed that the men had a detailed 
knowledge of Hollywood prison films, an ability to 
squeeze through very small holes like Houdini, 
and an ability to jump off high buildings.
Police are still searching for Jose Espinosa, 20, 
and Otis Blunt, 32, as details of their escape 
from Union County jail become known. They 
began by using the wire to remove the cement 
around a concrete block in the wall between 
their two cells, B310 and B311. After removing 
the block, Blunt squeezed his 1.79-metre (5ft 
9in) (11½st) body through a 20cm by 40cm hole 
into Espinosa’s cell. From there, Espinosa, who 
is 1.67 metres tall (5ft 5in) and 10st 10lb, and 
Blunt both squeezed through a similar hole from 
Espinosa’s cell into the area outside the high-
security section.
Prison officials said the men used the heavy 
metal wheel to break up the concrete blocks. 
They then put the small pieces of concrete in the 
plastic boxes they used to store their personal 
possessions. Then, just like in the movies, they 
put posters of women in bikinis over the holes.
The prisoners filled their beds with pillows so the 
prison guards would think they were still asleep. 
When they had got out of Espinosa’s cell, they 
jumped from a roof 10 metres high. There was no 
blood on the ground, which probably means they 
were not injured.
After that, they had to climb an eight-metre razor-
wire fence, but this wasn’t a problem for them 
either. Police found tracks in the snow which 
showed that they split up and walked in opposite 
directions along a railway line.
This was the second time Blunt had tried to 
escape from prison using the wire method. 
The first time another prisoner told the prison 
authorities about his plan and they moved him to 
a more secure part of the prison.
Blunt was in prison before going on trial for 
robbery and shooting at a corner shop. Espinosa 
was the driver in a drive-by shooting in New 
Jersey and was facing a jail sentence of at least 
17 years.
A reward of $8,000 has been offered for the 
men’s recapture, and a full inquiry ordered 
into prison security. A local prosecutor, Ted 
Romankow, does not like the Hollywood 
connection. “I think this is a very serious 
situation,” he told reporters at a press 
conference. “I really prefer not to compare it with 
any movie, although I can understand why you 
want to do that because it is certainly very similar 
to some of them.” Then, changing his previous 
position, he added: “Except in The Shawshank 
Redemption they had a better poster on the wall.”