It was probably meant to go down like an episode of the popular
American TV series Prison Break.
But eight inmates planning an escape from a detention house in
Hubei Province soon realized that talking too
much about their planned breakout won't get them very far.
Police learned of the wannabe escapees' plan after being tipped
off by other inmates at the Chibi jail in the central China
province, Chutian Metropolis News reported.
It was revealed that the eight inmates in Cell 8 planned to lure
a policeman on duty into their cell by staging a fake fight, subdue
him, and steal his keys.
The plotters were Liu Yaonong, 22, who was caught by local
police two months ago for allegedly smuggling 300 g of drugs from
south China's Guangdong Province and Zheng Hengxing, 16, who
was in custody on robbery charges.
A special guard force was mobilized to neutralize the breakout
attempt, following the tip-off Monday.
At 8:40 PM, police found Zheng had covered the security camera
in Cell 8 with a towel.
Then came the sound of the staged fight coming from the
cell.
Police called for the inmates to stop fighting without opening
the cell door.
However, 20 minutes later, fighting again commenced much louder
with screams of: "I will beat you to death" in another attempt to
lure a guard into the cell.
At that point 16 armed policemen stormed the cell and restrained
the eight inmates.
The inmates have confessed to the escape plot, authorities said.
They face separate charges, and a thorough investigation is under
way.
Min Yaguang, a top city police officer said the prison break
attempt was destined to fail without a tip-off.
The detention center has several security defense systems,
including some that cannot be deactivated by guards alone, he
said.
In another development, a criminal surnamed Wang who tried to
escape from a prison in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province late last year had two
more years added to his prison sentence.
Jailed in 2003, Wang dug a tunnel in a boiler house and managed
to evade capture for three days.
(China Daily July 12, 2007)