Prisoner sentenced to life attempts suicide in cell

ANDONG, South Korea, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- A prisoner serving a life sentence, who stunned the nation for his 1997 jailbreak and more than two years of evading capture, fell into critical condition after attempting suicide in his prison cell on Thursday, prison officials said.
Shin Chang-won, 44, was spotted by a prison guard trying to strangle himself using a rubber glove in his solitary cell in Andong, 268 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the officials.
Shin was rushed to a nearby hospital but he has remained unconscious, they said.
He was sentenced to life in prison in 1989 for robbery and murdering four people. While serving his term in 1997, he escaped from prison and evaded a police manhunt for more than two years until he was finally captured.