The inmate who fled the Headingley Correctional Centre by jumping a fence and swimming for freedom on Sunday is still at large this morning.
He’s known by a number of local correctional officers as the “craftiest con in the history of corrections,” and they reacted with only modest disbelief and a sardonic chuckle to the news of his daring escape.
”The word ‘MacGyver’ probably best describes him,” said one former Headingley jail guard Monday, who spoke about his experiences dealing with Jonathon Anders Muzychka at the prison just west of Winnipeg.
The man, who didn’t want his name used, said he was surprised Muzychka was classified by officials as a “medium-security” risk, adding there are reams of past reports indicating the escapee had a history of trickery.
”He’d make models a lot -- one time he made a log cabin out of golf pencils and toothpaste,” the former corrections officer said.
He said Muzychka also showed an uncanny ability to “go fishing” -- or pass items from one cell to another -- using only threads pulled from bed sheets to “cast” the item from cell to cell.
”He was kind of an unsettling convict -- he was too smart,” the former corrections officer said, adding Muzychka was widely known in prison circles for his resourcefulness.
A separate corrections source said Monday that it appears Muzychka used a laundry bag and piece of rope to escape from the jail early Sunday evening.
”He fashioned some tools that he used to scale the fence,” a source inside Manitoba Corrections said, adding items were found and seized at the scene to corroborate this. The source would not elaborate on what was found.
james.turner@freepress.mb.ca
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