Prisoners Botch Two Jail Escape Attempts : Crime: A short rope and the wrong set of keys foil escape attempts by inmates at two county jails.

Two separate escape attempts from San Diego County jails were abandoned Sunday when would-be escapees made a 50-foot miscalculation in one case, and others abducted a guard with the wrong set of keys.

In the first attempt, guards walking the grounds at County Jail in El Cajon noticed a “small patch of light” coming from a normally solid wall on the seventh story of the jail building, sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Ladner said. The hole was discovered shortly before 1:30 a.m.

Jail attendants inside searched and found one occupied cell with a 15-by-14-inch section of wall chipped away to the outside, Ladner said.

The three inmates assigned to the cell were still present and gave no appearance of being on the way out, Ladner said.

The inmates--after looking outside--had realized they were higher than they thought, Ladner said.

During interviews with prison officials, “each inmate said he thought he was on the second floor,” Ladner said. “They abandoned their idea when they found out differently.”

The plan had included making a rope with bed sheets and lowering themselves to the ground, Ladner said. Investigators said the cellmates’ bed-rope was about five stories short.

Officials did not name the inmates.

In the second attempt, a deputy sheriff was taken hostage at knifepoint in the exercise yard at County Jail downtown.

About 1:25 p.m., the deputy, whose name was not released, was letting an inmate into the jail when he was rushed by another inmate wielding a shank of sharpened steel, sheriff’s Lt. Lori Bird said.

Three other inmates helped shackle the deputy with his own handcuffs, Bird said, then they stripped him of his keys, alarm and portable radio.

The guard was held by his abductors in a stairwell near the jail retaining wall, Ladner said. The inmates failed to open a gate leading to the outside and were told by the deputy that none of the keys fit the exit gates.

The inmates returned the deputy uninjured to the exercise yard and removed the handcuffs, Ladner said. The shank and some civilian clothing were recovered, Ladner said.

The inmates were Martin Terrain, 20, who is being held on murder charges; Soulath Daythavong,18, and Christopher Bell, 22, also being held on murder charges; and Rhoady Chapell, 38, who is being held for armed robbery, Ladner said.

All will be held on additional charges connected to the escape attempt, Ladner said.