Supremacist Escapes Jail Bonner Inmate Scales Fence Topped With Razor Wire

A prisoner who spouts white supremacist beliefs and is tattooed with swastikas scaled a fence topped with razor wire and escaped from the Bonner County jail Monday afternoon.

Bloodhounds, sheriff’s deputies and city police officers hunted until dark for Matthew Brakken, 25, but couldn’t find him.

The prisoner, arrested for grand theft, was thought to be hiding in the southwest part of town after fleeing on foot from the jail.

Brakken was described as a dangerous white supremacist with a shaved head, swastika tattoos all around his neck and other tattoos covering his body.

Brakken is 6 feet 1, weighs about 170 pounds and has blue eyes. He may be carrying homemade weapons, authorities said. His last known address was in Sandpoint, deputies said.

About 3 p.m., he was in the exercise yard, a small fenced area in the back parking lot of the courthouse. Authorities said he scaled the 14-foot fence, scrambled over some razor wire and ran, still wearing his jail-issued dark blue jumpsuit.

It took authorities a few minutes to realize Brakken was gone. Monday was a holiday, President’s Day, and the jail was not fully staffed.

Brakken apparently had written several notes to friends asking them to “get me out of here,” authorities said.

“He had been plotting breakouts with his girlfriend. This time he selected the right time,” said Bonner County Sheriff Chip Roos.

Authorities, however, don’t believe Brakken’s girlfriend was involved - she’s now in jail in Spokane.

Brakken was jailed after being arrested on a warrant for grand theft. He also is wanted for a probation violation in Utah. He previously served jail time in Shoshone County, where authorities found makeshift weapons in his cell and labeled him as someone likely to try to escape.

Bonner County has had several jail-break attempts in the past few months. One inmate also scaled the fence. Deputies saw him on a video monitor and were outside the fence as he dropped to the ground. The man claimed he was only trying to get a cigarette butt lying on the ground to smoke.

Brakken apparently had a chance to get over the fence without being seen. The jail is more than 80 years old and the exercise yard is a makeshift project. The county was forced to install it.

Federal regulators threatened to shut down the jail because it failed to meet national jail standards and housing inmates there was cruel and unusual punishment.

“We do the best we can under the conditions,” Roos said.

The county is building a new $3.9 million jail near the Bonner County fairgrounds.

, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Supremacist breaks out of jail

This sidebar appeared with the story: ESCAPED PRISONER Matthew Brakken, 25, is described as having a shaved head and swastika tattoos around his neck. He is 6 feet 1, weighs about 170 lbs. and has blue eyes.