A convicted contract killer became the first man to escape the Czech Republic's highest security prison, dodging bullets, dogs and surviving a 31-foot fall, interior ministry officials said recently.
Jiri Kajinek, sentenced to life imprisonment for a double contract killing, made the escape from the Mirov penitentiary -- known as the Czech Alcatraz, after the notorious U.S. jail in San Francisco Bay -- 140 miles east of Prague late Sunday.
They said Kajinek managed to avoid regular checks inside the prison Sunday, jump out of his cell some 10 yards above the ground, run across a 20-yard field patrolled by officer dogs, scale another wall and then get past a 6-foot-high exit gate as officers shot at him.
The CTK news agency quoted prison director Milan Kohoutek as saying the last time any prisoner had managed to even reach the barrier was 24 years ago, and that person was caught.
Interior ministry officials said thousands of police had started a manhunt for Kajinek, who claimed he was innocent of the murders, and have asked Interpol for help.