Breaking into (and out of) jail

Police Headquarters gets a hit on the intruder alarm of one of their abandoned jails. Two cars are dispatched almost immediately to check out the alarm. According to the Associated Press the alarm site is at a deserted jail in Matamata- that's on the North Island in New Zealand.

By the time the cops arrive, they can hear a lot of banging and crashing inside the jail. The cops use pass keys to enter through the front of the jail. Meanwhile, most of the banging and crashing seems to be coming from the back of the jail.

It takes a while for the cops to work their way through the maze of corridors and cells leading to the far side of the jail. By the time they reach their destination the intruder is gone.

The crime scene is photographed. Gradually detectives piece together the probable scenario of the afternoon's event. Cops don't know why the intruder broke into the jail or if he was looking for something. Nothing was taken, and nobody was being held there. The jail has been shut down for months.

Detectives figure the intruder accidentally locked himself into the cell area when a self- locking door swung closed behind him.

"He must have been frantic to free himself," said Sergeant McClusky, leader of the responding squad. "The man used a wooden chair to beat his way out of the jail."

"How could he use a wooden chair to beat his way out of jail?" the shift lieutenant asked.

"Well, sir," said the sergeant, "the intruder used the chair to pound repeatedly on the glass of the exit door until finally the glass shattered."

Almost as an afterthought, Sgt. McClusky added, "Did I mentioned that the glass was shatterproof?"

CallTheCops@sc.rr.com