4 Inmates Flee Youth Prison in Camarillo : Corrections: The escapees include two convicted murderers. Officials say a search for the men, who cut through a chain-link fence while on trash detail, has been called off.

Four convicts, including two convicted murderers, escaped from a California Youth Authority facility in Camarillo after cutting through a chain-link fence, Ventura County authorities said Monday.

The inmates escaped from Ventura School about 9:20 a.m. Sunday while serving on trash detail, CYA Lt. Thomas Salas said.

They escaped through a 2-foot-wide hole that had been cut in the fence.

Two of the escapees, Carlos Ramirez, 21, of Los Angeles and Ismael Solis, 20, of Compton were incarcerated for murder.

Ramirez entered the prison in May, 1988, after a first-degree murder conviction. Solis entered the facility in April, 1987, after convictions on two counts of second-degree murder, a CYA official said.

Osvaldo Pineda, 19, of Los Angeles was incarcerated in January, 1988, after a voluntary manslaughter conviction. Jose Dubon, 20, of Los Angeles was sent to the Camarillo facility in March, 1990, after a conviction for exhibiting a weapon.

CYA officials would not release further information on the escapees.

A Ventura County Sheriff’s Department helicopter searched the area around the maximum-security facility until late Sunday evening, Lt. Gary Backman said.

Authorities suspect the inmates fled the county, and they called off the search Monday, he said.

CYA officials said they do not know whether the inmates had help or used a wire cutter to break out, Salas said.

“Making those holes could take a matter of seconds if they had a tool,” he said. “We couldn’t tell if the hole was made from the outside or inside.”

A security guard spotted them running across a field and alerted other guards.

There are 859 teen-agers and young adults imprisoned at the facility.

The inmates were sent to the Ventura facility as juveniles.

Under state law, a juvenile offender can be held until age 25.