Tunnel discovered at Kinross Facility (updated)

Kinross Correctional Facility inmates who had almost completed an escape tunnel probably had outside help, says a story in today’s Soo, Michigan Evening News.

The passageway was discovered last Saturday during an in-cell “shakedown.”

According to the newspaper, the prisoners cut through eight inches of concrete before reaching dirt.

They had burrowed horizontally as far as planned and needed only to go a few feet upwards to finish the route.

The tunnel, dug over the winter months, extended 25 to 30 feet beyond fences surrounding the building housing prisoners.

The suspected tunnellers have been separated from other inmates while Michigan Corrections Department officials continue their investigation.

Several calls by SooToday.com to the Kinross Correctional Facility this afternoon yielded only replays of a recorded message.

It stated that the facility was "under mobilization" and that only emergency assistance could be provided.