Australian uses bed sheets to escape maximum security jail

Red-faced Australian authorities Wednesday vowed to review security after a prisoner used bed sheets and a pillow to scale a wall topped with razor wire and escape from a maximum security jail.

Convicted armed robber Stephen Jamieson made his daring break for freedom on Tuesday and was on the run in a stolen car for 10 hours before police using helicopters and dogs caught up with him about 100 kilometres (60 miles) away from the prison.

Corrective Services New South Wales Commissioner Peter Severin said the jailbreak from the prison in Goulburn, around 200 kilometres from Sydney, should never have happened.

"The New South Wales police response was immediate and comprehensive," he said.

"This is a very serious incident that should not have happened."

He announced a full review of the incident by security experts.

Severin said Jamieson, 28, escaped after cutting through a metal gate at the back of a small secure exercise yard.

"He was able to get out of that exercise yard and then he had a range of bed sheets that he tied together and was able to swing them over the wall to then effect his escape by scaling that wall," he said.

"It appears that he also had a pillow (that was) put around his waist and enabled him to make good his escape over the razor wire."

Jamieson, who was serving a 12-year sentence, was due to appear at Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday to face charges over the escape and the pursuit.