Kinney hid in chapel, then swung to freedom from chapel
eastoregonian.com/front page/10-7-99
By MIKE FEDERMAN of the East Oregonian
SALEM - A rope hidden in the chapel gave a prison inmate the tool he needed to escape from the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution Saturday night.
James Kinney used a rope fashioned from flag football belts to pull himself to freedom over the prison's outer fence, according to a written review of the incident issued by the Oregon Department of Corrections.
Kinney, 39, a convicted sex abuser who was serving a 37-year prison term, is still a fugitive and considered dangerous.
According to the DOC, Kinney attended religious service Saturday night in the prison chapel. He hid in the chapel and waited until it closed. He retrieved a rope hidden in the chapel.
Kinney then climbed to the balcony of the chapel, broke through the door and gained entrance to the roof. After watching the mobile patrol vehicles that drive around the outside of the prison, he picked an opportune time to toss the rope and looped one end over a post on the inner fence.
The inmate jumped from a ledge and swung out around coils of razor wire. The rope broke and Kinney fell into the wire but was able to use the remaining rope to climb over the outer fence and jumped to the ground, according to the report.
Perimeter fence security alarms alerted officers in the control center of the security breach and mobile patrol units responded to the scene.
Law enforcement officials followed a small blood trail away from the prison and detained a nearby freight train during initial stages of the search.
Bill Moore, investigations administrator for the DOC, said Monday that Kinney's trail "looked like it led to a vehicle."
All-points-bulletins have been issued to Western states, and the DOC's Fugitive Apprehension Unit has extended its search for Kinney to California, following leads into that state.
The FAU has not ruled out the possibility of Kinney leaving the country and has notified immigration, customs and border patrol authorities at all international borders of his escape.
Kinney was the first inmate to successfully escape from EOCI since the former Pendleton mental institution was converted to a medium-security prison 14 years ago.
In March 1997, Kinney was imprisoned at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem on two counts of sodomy and two counts of sex abuse to a minor.
Because he made enemies at the maximum-security prison, Kinney was transferred to EOCI in August 1997, according to the DOC.
In February 1998, Kinney received 120 days segregation after a coil of several flag football belts was found in a metal drawer on the bottom bunk of his cell. Because an escape device was found in his possession, Kinney was returned to Salem in August 1998 and housed in the Intensive Management Unit.
Kinney returned to EOCI in February 1999 and received seven days segregation in May for failure to obey an order.
In the DOC review, EOCI Superintendent Jean Hill listed a number of changes that have been implemented at the prison to prevent further escapes and has identified short-term recommendations for better security at the prison to be implemented within a month.