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Violent inmate escapes He had 37-year sentence From wire and staff reports PENDLETON -- A dangerous sex offender from Grants Pass remains on the loose after he broke out of prison Saturday. James Kinney, 39, escaped from the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution about 10:30 p.m. Saturday after getting through coils of razor wire inside the wall and scaling a fence topped with more razor wire, prison officials said. Kinney was serving a minimum sentence of 37 years on a 1996 conviction in Josephine County for sodomy, assault and sexual abuse. His earliest release date would have been 2034. Oregon Department of Corrections spokeswoman Perrin Damon said it was the first escape from the prison since it opened 14 years ago. There had been one previous attempt. Alarms indicate the escape took place about 10:30 p.m. The prison went to a lockdown status, with inmates confined to cells and housing units. Kinney was convicted by a Josephine County jury on five counts of sodomy, assault and sexual abuse. He was designated a "dangerous offender" under Oregon sentencing guidelines and received at least 37 years in prison before eligibility for parole. While awaiting sentence, he attacked a jail deputy in the exercise yard and tried to take the deputy's keys. The attack was so vicious that other prisoners rushed to the deputy's aid and subdued Kinney until help arrived. A judge subsequently tacked another six months on Kinney's sentence for assaulting a public safety officer. "He's not a nice person," Josephine County sheriff's Sgt. Ron Little said Sunday. "I hope they catch him soon, before somebody gets hurt." Grants Pass police Cpl. Lorne Wolfe, one of several officers assigned to a special court detail at Kinney's sentencing, said local authorities are on the lookout if the escapee returns to the area. "He's a bad guy," Wolfe said. "I remembered the name when Corrections notified us of the escape." Kinney is described as 5-foot-8 with brown hair and eyes and weighing about 175 pounds. He was wearing blue prison denim trousers and shirt with the word "Inmate" stenciled in orange across the back of the shirt and the knee of the pants. Prison officials said anyone seeing Kinney should phone 911. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA