In particular, officials are looking to improve scrutiny of delivery trucks that have access to the most secure prisons in the country.

Rostislav Roztočil, 58, and Roman Čabrada, 29, escaped Nov. 8 from the Bory maximum-security facility in Plzeň, west Bohemia, by hiding themselves inside a cargo crate that was carried out of the prison on a delivery truck.

Four men escaped Nov. 12 from the Odolov prison in Trutnov, north Bohemia, when they simply walked away from a pack of prisoners returning from a swimming trip.

At press time, authorities had managed to capture the four men from Odolov prison. On Nov. 12 German authorities captured Roztočil in Stuttgart, where he is awaiting extradition back to the Czech Republic. Čabrada remained at large.

Both Roztočil and Čabrada were serving 24-year murder sentences.

"The current supervisory methods failed," said Lenka Smutná, spokesman for the Justice Ministry's prison service.

Following the Plzeň break, Justice Minister Pavel Němec ordered an inspection of the country's five maximum-security prisons.

Prison Services head Luděk Kula promptly sacked Jaroslav Zeman, the director of the Bory prison. He also promised that at least 10 others among the prison's personnel, from guards to members of the board of directors, would face punishment.

He ordered the installation of large X-ray scanners at maximum-security prisons, including Bory, to monitor delivery trucks that often access facilities to transport materials that prisoners make as part of work programs.

There are 36 prisons in this country, but the majority of them — like Odolov prison — are little more than detention centers for people serving short sentences for minor crimes.

The four men who fled Nov. 12 were all participating in a recreation program outside the prison — not unusual, officials say, for convicts near the end of their sentences who are not considered dangerous.

Two of the men promptly turned themselves in the next day. Authorities captured the others on the Slovak border Nov. 15.