Escaping inmate crushed to death in rubbish truck

An Oklahoma prison inmate trying to escape in the back of a rubbish truck has been crushed to death.

Prison officers in Hominy discovered Mariano Absum, 27, in the back of a truck that regularly visits the jail.

They'd been alerted to him going missing. The truck had broken down two miles from the prison.

"When we opened the truck, we found the inmate," prison service spokesman Jerry Massie said.

He may have hidden in a bin emptied into the truck, Mr Massie said.

Absum arrived at the medium security Conner Correctional Centre in May to begin a three-year sentence for assault.