Long gone are the days of meticulously planned jailbreaks a la "Escape from Alcatraz."
There's no need to dig out of jail or swim across freezing waters when you can just use cell-made nunchucks.
Lorenzo Pollard used the weapon, made from bed sheets and a chair, to ward off guards and escape from a St. Louis jail called the Workhouse Friday. The inmate has since been caught and returned into custody, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Police Capt. Sam Dotson explained to the Post-Dispatch how Friday's events went down:
Pollard began using his makeshift weapon about 8:15 p.m. as he was being led by guards to a shower area. As guards called for backup, Pollard climbed to a second tier of jail cells, continuing to swing the nunchucks. At one point...there were about a dozen guards trying to stop him.
Pollard used the nunchucks to break through some glass blocks, then jumped out of the hole he created and scaled two razor and barbed wire fences. Police officers swarmed the area, using search dogs and a helicopter.
Police re-arrested Pollard Sunday after locating him. The suspect allegedly denied his name and had cocaine in his possession, according to KMOX St. Louis.
Pollard had been in custody since May on charges of theft, trespassing, property damage and resisting arrest, according to the report.
Jails breaks are becoming more common in the city, with four such incidents over the past two years -- and officials are asking questions.
"I want to know what the hell happened there again and again and again and again," St. Louis Alderman Greg Carter, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, told the Post-Dispatch.
At a later date, Dotson told the paper that the facility guards didn't try to stop Pollard, defending their actions by saying it's protocol for officers to allow inmates to calm down first. He said the guards were amazed Pollard succeeded in his escape.
For more details of Pollard's escape, read the full story on the Post-Dispatch.