Adrenaline-pumped action movies and TV series make it seem as if escaping from jail was a total pain in the neck.

First, a liberty-bound inmate is supposed to devise a clever plan how to hook a plastic spoon from the cafeteria. Then he needs to make sure the valuable tool doesn't get snatched when he gets knocked out by his charming next-door neighbor during the daily beating, which, in prison circles, passes for a healthy workout.

Finally, back in his cell, at night, when everybody else is in their own prisoner la-la land, dreaming of green pastures and Broadway musicals, he needs to get on his knees and start digging up a tunnel.

That's just too much work. But, apparently, in real life, things are not so dreadfully difficult. At least not in Germany.

A clever prisoner from Darmstadt decided that he really had better things to do than spend months digging a tunnel and filling his pockets with dirt. It's very bad for your fingernails.

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Instead, the 28-year-old narcotics convict did his David Copperfield act by hiding in a cardboard box filled with shoetrees.

The shoetrees, which are produced in the prison, were packed and loaded onto a truck. The truck was not properly searched on the way out or, if it had been, the prisoner must have been mistaken for a giant shoetree.

After the truck left the prison, the man unpacked himself, kissed the shoetrees goodbye and bid "hasta la vista" to his free limousine service.

Police are still looking for him.