'Shawshank' escapee recaptured

A MAN wanted after a daring jailbreak that echoed the plot of "The Shawshank Redemption" has been captured in an apartment just six blocks from the prison.

He was one of two inmates who used photographs of bikini-clad women to hide holes they dug through the cinder-block walls of their adjoining cells in a high-security unit, the Union County prosecutor's office in Trenton, New Jersey, said.

In "The Shawshank Redemption," the main character uses posters of women to conceal the escape tunnel he is digging.

A team of federal and local law enforcement officers arrested Jose Espinosa without incident on Tuesday night, said James T. Plousis, US marshal for New Jersey.

Otis Blunt, 32, with whom Plousis escaped on December 15, remained at large yesterday.

Espinosa, 20, was alone when arrested and had a leg injury suffered when he and Blunt made their escape, Plousis said. The two are believed to have jumped on to a roof, from which they jumped over a 7.6-meter-high fence topped with razor wire.

The inmates left a note thanking one of their guards, Rudolph Zurick, for helping them, although authorities have said there was no evidence that Zurick had helped them.

The guard committed suicide on January 2, the day he was to speak to investigators about the escape. He was buried on Monday.

Authorities got a tip-off as to Espinosa's whereabouts on Tuesday, Plousis said. He said he could not provide details.

Espinosa was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter in a 2005 drive-by shooting.

Agencies