The Associated Press via The Hamilton Spectator
MEXICO CITY — Six inmates from the last island penal colony in the Americas were recaptured at sea after they used buoyant containers and wood planks to try to swim to freedom in an escape reminiscent of the 1973 movie Papillon.
The Mexican navy said the inmates used empty plastic gas or water tanks to help stay afloat as they swam about 90 kilometres south of the Islas Marias, a Mexican penal colony where inmates live in houses and are normally not locked up.
The six men were only about 90 km from the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta when they were spotted by a passing boat Thursday.
The boat called in a tip to a local naval base, and patrol boats were quickly dispatched to take the men into custody. Photos showed the men sunburned but alert on the deck of the patrol vessel.
The men, who range in age from 28 to 39 years, were taken back to Puerto Vallarta for a medical check and returned to prison authorities.
The federal Public Safety Department said the prison oversight agency wasn’t notified until Thursday the men were missing.
The Islas Marias penal colony lies about 110 kilometres from the mainland, but the prisoners did not swim to the closest shore. Instead they apparently swam south, either because prevailing currents carried them that way, they didn’t know where they were going, or because they were aiming for Vallarta.
The Pacific Ocean forms the main security barrier at the island. While dozens of prisoners are believed to have tried to escape since it was founded in 1905, local media reports indicate few, if any, have made it to the mainland.
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