Two inmates escaped while being transferred to a New Mexico prison, leading to a manhunt, NBC News reported.
Joseph Cruz, 32, and Lionel Clah, 29, and three other inmates were being transported from the Penitentiary of New Mexico toward the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility when they fled, officials said in a statement on Thursday.
The state correctional department said they may have escaped between Roswell, New Mexico, and Las Cruces. It appeared corrections officers didn’t check on the prisoners during two stops.
Cruz was convicted of murder. Clah was convicted of armed robbery with a deadly weapon in 2006. Both men were fully shackled with leg irons, belly chains and handcuffs. They’re believed to be wearing white paper transport suits.
Both were spotted on surveillance video in Albuquerque, where police have set up a perimeter.
