CNN.com - Four inmates on the run after jailbreak in Washington state

CNN.com - Four inmates on the run after jailbreak in Washington state - Nov 26, 2005:

YAKIMA, Washington (AP) -- Authorities searched Saturday for four maximum security inmates who escaped from a county jail by climbing down a rope made of bed sheets, authorities said.

The inmates escaped Friday with five other prisoners who were quickly recaptured before they could leave the jail grounds, said Will Paulakis, a Yakima County Corrections Department division chief.

The four escapees include a 20-year-old man scheduled to go on trial December 5 on charges of second-degree murder, another charged with burglary, and two who were being held on second-degree assault allegations.

The inmates apparently escaped shortly after 5 p.m. through the ceiling of a cell in their unit on the top floor of the four-story main jail, said Cpl. Ken Rink, a Corrections Department spokesman.

They gained access to the roof and used bed sheets to slide down to the roof of the adjacent one-story jail annex, then jumped to the ground. A similar approach was used in a 1994 jailbreak.

One inmate was recaptured on the main jail roof, three were caught on the annex roof and a corrections officer spotted the fifth standing on the ground and tackled him, Rink said.

No injuries were reported.

The jail is located near the old train station in downtown Yakima, in central Washington. Some streets were blocked off in the area after the 5:20 p.m. escape, and officers asked nearby businesses to be on alert.