Escaped prisoner remains on the run.

Escaped convict Vincent Lunes remains on the run after a daring escape from Nice's psychiatric hospital

Vincent Lunes was convicted in March this year for robbery and as an accomplice to the attempted murder of police officers. The 28-year-old was a member of a gang involved in two jewellery heists in November 2010, one of which involved a gun battle with police.

On 17th August he was admitted to the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after attempting suicide by hanging himself in his cell. Freely able to roam the compound’s interiors, Lunes chose his escape route through ‘room 6’, conveniently fitted with a window overlooking the courtyard below.

Police say the escape was well planned. The prisoner had been given a hacksaw and had cut his way through one of the window bars. He squeezed through the gap and, supporting himself by tying his socks around two other bars, he dropped six metres to the courtyard below. From there, he accessed avenue Joseph Raybaud, where he is believed to have been picked up by an accomplice. Despite an extensive manhunt, Lunes remains on the run.

The escape has forced the hospital back into the spotlight. Its security measures were increased after a notorious escape in 2009 during the semi-final of Champions League football. In total, there have been at least 12 known escapes from the hospital in just ten years. The hospital’s director Chantal Philip told the Nice Matin that redevelopment works, to begin next month, will boost the hospital’s security measures by 2014. She also accepted criticism from Unions that there is not enough staff at the hospital, saying the profession is simply not an attractive one within the medical world.