An Albion Park woman has admitted trying to break out of jail after she and a fellow inmate fashioned an old-school rope out of blankets and set about scaling a prison fence.
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Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday reveal Lauren McWatters, 27, was being held at the medium-security Dillwynia Women's Correction Centre near Windsor in December last year on unrelated charges when she and another woman were captured on CCTV footage making the daring escape bid.
The court heard the pair was seen walking towards a "sterile zone" inside the prison about 1pm on December 16 while carrying several blankets that appeared to have been tied together with a medium-sized rock at one end.
They jumped the inner fence into the sterile zone then approached the outer fence of the jail.
McWatters was seen to be standing at the bottom of the fence as her co-accused attempted to climb the wire.
The woman only got a few metres up before falling off the fence.
The pair began walking away from the fence but a number of Correctives Services staff converged on their position and ordered them to lay on the ground.
They were both apprehended and taken to individual cells for observation.
The matter was reported to police Penrith Police who arrived at the jail the following day and charged McWatters with one count of attempted escape from a correctional facility.
McWatters pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared in Wollongong court via video link on Tuesday.
She remains behind bars and will face sentencing on August 4.
