Inmates Escape Argentine Prison Guarded by Dummy

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Two Argentinean prisoners are on the run after they escaped from prison that was using a dummy as a guard, the BBC reported.

Workers at the prison said that because of a lack of resources, only two watchtowers out of 15 had guards in them at any given time. A football hat with a guard's cap on served as a third "guard" in an additional tower.

They named the guard Wilson after the volleyball character "Wilson" in the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway."

The Guardian reported that news of the dummy guard was confirmed by Daniel Verges, director of the penitentiary service.

Verges said, "For an obvious strategic reason we could not say it before, but now the news is out, I admit that we have a type of mannequin."

The two convicts, Walter Pozo and Cesar Andres, escaped from a prison in the Neuquen province and were both in jail for armed robbery.

According to the BBC , Nestor D'Abramo, a prison official, said that Pozo and Andres were in a less secured part of the prison when they escaped because they were nearing the end of their prison terms.

D'Abramo explained that Pozo and Andres escaped by jumping over a wire fence and then climbed the perimeter wall.

An investigation is under way and solutions for the lack of resources of the prison are being considered.

So far the investigation has found that several surveillance monitors and video cameras were broken, but that the cameras in the area where the dummy was "guarding" were working.

The police chief, Juan Carlos Lepén, said, "We are trying to resolve this. Our request [for more funds] is with the public administration but we have to wait," the Guardian reported.

Pozo and Andres are still on the run.