Jail Look-Alike in a Hairless Escape
A convicted murderer broke out of St. Petersburg’s oldest prison by posing as his cellmate, the chief warden said Friday. It was the first escape in the prison’s 115-year history.
Sergei Datsishin had recently begun serving a 15-year term for murder and robbery in Kresty, a prison built in 1879. Datsishin shared a cell with eight other prisoners, including Viktor Smirnov, who was finishing a six-month sentence for failing to pay alimony.
Smirnov and Datsishin resembled each other physically and just before Smirnov’s term ended, both men shaved their heads.
Kresty had a reputation for being impossible to break out of, and few prisoners have ever tried, Warden Stepan Demchuk said.
Guess which one was asleep and which one strode out when the other’s name was called.
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