Inmate used hacksaw and bedsheets to escape jail

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- An inmate who escaped from the Mesa County jail in September did so by cutting a hole in the roof of the exercise yard with hacksaw blades and shimmying down the side of the building on bed sheets he had tied together, according to an arrest affidavit unsealed late Wednesday.
Shane Johnson, 41, was awaiting sentencing on burglary and auto theft convictions when he escaped.
The affidavit says it took him about two minutes to climb down the side of the jail and jump into a vehicle that was waiting for him behind the building.
Prosecutors allege Johnson’s wife, Marilynne Johnson, was driving the getaway car.
The Johnsons were arrested Jan. 10 in Baja California, Mexico.
Shane Johnson remains in custody in Mexico on suspicion of burglarizing homes there. Marilynne Johnson, 47, is in the Mesa County jail on $100,000 bond on suspicion of aiding her husband’s escape.
Another inmate, Rodney Price, also has been charged with helping Shane Johnson escape. He remains in custody on unrelated charges.
The details of Johnson’s escape were contained in an arrest affidavit for his wife.
The document says detention staff believe Shane Johnson received two hacksaw blades in an envelope that was mailed to him in jail.
The envelope, which contained a hidden compartment, was found in Johnson’s cell after his escape. The package listed a return address in Colorado Springs; however, it wasn’t clear from the affidavit whether investigators know who sent it.
The affidavit said Shane Johnson used the blades to cut a hole in a portion of steel mesh roof in the jail’s exercise yard. Video then shows him climbing down the side of the building late at night.
Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said the jail has since undergone a complete audit, and improvements have been made, including a new covering on the exercise yard and razor wire on the fence around the building. more