METCHOSIN, B.C. - Two inmates have escaped from the minimum security William Head Institution in Metchosin, west of Victoria.
A release from the prison says Zachary Armitage and James Busch were missing during the head count at 11 p.m. Sunday night.
Busch is serving an indeterminate sentence for second-degree murder and assault, and is described as 42 years old, five feet nine inches tall, bald with brown eyes and has a No Love tattoo on his right arm.
Armitage is 30, five feet 10 inches tall, weighs 179 pounds, has brown eyes and black hair, and is serving time for robbery, aggravated assault and other offences.
The release says RCMP at the West Shore detachment have been notified and a warrant has been issued for their arrests.
The institution is on the waterfront, and several prisoners have either escaped or attempted to escape by swimming around the tall fence topped with razor wire, including two who died in 1993 and 1997.