Cinematical

Sky News reports that two prisoners -- Jose Espinosa, an alleged gang member awaiting sentencing for manslaughter, and Otis Blunt, facing robbery and weapons offense charges -- escaped from Union County jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Saturday night. Using improvised tools, the men removed cement blocks from two walls, squeezed through the holes, jumped to a rooftop below, scaled a 30-foot high wall and hopped a razor wire fence to escape from what was considered the most secure area of the prison. The men had only been prisoners for a couple of weeks. Pretty exciting little news story, isn't it? But why am I telling you about it on Cinematical -- the world's greatest movie news website?

Because the escape was apparently inspired by Frank Darabont's modern classic, The Shawshank Redemption! (Which was adapted from Stephen King's novella, but let's just assume these boys saw the movie.) You see, the inmates covered up their escape holes with photographs of women in bikinis! I guess had they used Rita Hayworth posters, it would have been far too obvious. In addition, they put dummies underneath their blankets to give the illusion that they were still in bed -- a trick I'm assuming they swiped from another awesome movie -- Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The escapees left a note saying "Happy Holidays," and thanking a guard they claim helped them escape. The jail -- and I'm sure many more to follow -- have banned posters and photographs from prisoners' walls. Espinosa and Blunt are said to be armed and dangerous, but if the movie taught us anything, they're probably just going to meet up on a beach somewhere and live out their days happily.