A prisoner who escaped from an NYC hospital using a rope made of sheets was captured a month later

NEW YORK (AP) — A prisoner who used a rope made of bedsheets to escape from the fifth floor of a New York City hospital has been rearrested after a month on the lam, police said Wednesday.

The 44-year-old man was apprehended Tuesday in Queens after escaping from Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in Manhattan on Aug. 9, a police spokesperson said.

The man had been in custody on a drug charge since July 31 when he was brought to the hospital Aug. 4 after he complained of chest pains, authorities said.

He used a rope made of sheets to escape from a fifth-floor window five days later after asking to take a shower, police said. He rappelled to a rooftop below and from there made it to the street, where he got into a taxi.

The man was taken into custody Tuesday by U.S. Marshals and officers from the city’s Department of Correction intelligence bureau, a correction department spokesperson said. He was brought to Bellevue Hospital for a medical evaluation and rearrested on escape charges.

A message seeking comment was sent to the attorney with New York County Defender Services who represented the man in the drug case.

The two correctional officers who were guarding the man when he escaped were suspended for 30 days without pay.