The nighttime escape took place after a lone guard had gone to eat. The men escaped through a wall opening behind a toilet, climbed over a fence with the aid of blankets to avoid cutting themselves on barbed wire, and then ran across a motorway.
It wasn't until several hours later, when the prisoners were to be counted in the morning, that the escape was discovered.
Seven of the escapees are still at large. At least two of them have been convicted of murder.
In photos published by the news agency AP, someone can be seen to have written the words "too easy" above the hole in the toilet wall. The police suspect that the escapees, who are between 19 and 42 years old, had help from the inside.
