Escaped convict refused Sharpton's help

ELIZABETH, N.J., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton returned to the United States Wednesday from an unsuccessful trip to Mexico City to bring back an escaped prisoner from New Jersey.

But the fugitive, Otis Blunt, wound up being arrested Wednesday anyway. Blunt reportedly had asked Sharpton to help him surrender, then changed his mind, the New York Daily News reported.

Blunt, 32, escaped Dec. 15 with Jose Espinosa, 20. He was awaiting trial on charges of robbery and weapons.

While in Mexico, Sharpton talked to Blunt by phone, but never saw the fugitive in person, the newspaper said.

Espinosa was arrested Tuesday, six blocks from the jail, in Elizabeth, N.J. He had hurt his leg leaping from the roof of the jail during the escape, authorities said.

The cellmates' escape was similar to the plot of Stephen King's "The Shawshank Redemption," in which fictional prisoners dug through prison walls, hiding their progress from guards with posters of women in bikinis.