AUBURN – Almost a week after he attempted to escape from the county jail, inmate Antonio Abreau is expected to be released from the hospital.

The 40-year-old convicted sex offender has been at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston since Friday. He has been treated for a variety of injuries, including a head gash suffered in a fall and multiple cuts from his rush through razor wire.

At the request of the patient or a family member, the hospital could not release information about Abreau’s condition. But Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins said he originally expected Abreau to be returned to the jail on Tuesday. After a medical assessment, it was decided to wait until Thursday.

Abreau, a high-risk sex offender being held on a probation violation, is likely to face further legal troubles once he is released.

“We’re going to charge him with escape,” Desjardins said. “Chances are, because of his condition, we’re just going to summons him and submit it to the grand jury.”

Once Abreau is discharged from the hospital, jail officials will assess whether he’s fit to remain at the county lockup or should be sent to a facility with round-the-clock medical care.

Witnesses and jail officials said Abreau suffered dozens of cuts over his entire body in the brief escape attempt. That happened when he scaled a razor-wire-topped fence, scampered across a roof and fell to the ground outside the jail.

The razor wire features 1-inch blades at 1-inch intervals, making it impossible to get through without serious injury.

“He actually went through three of those razor ribbons,” Desjardins said. “He was like a squirrel going up a tree. It was that fast.”

But the attempt came to a fast end when Abreau either fell or jumped and landed in the jail parking lot on Turner Street. He landed on his back, witnesses said, but struck his head on impact, resulting in a large cut and possibly other injuries. He also broke ribs in the fall, jail officials said.

Abreau did not get any farther than the parking lot in the bid for freedom, which probably saved his life.

“If he had gotten away and just lay down somewhere,” the sheriff said, “he probably would have bled to death.”

If convicted on the escape charge, Abreau could face another five years in state prison.

In 1992, he was convicted of raping a woman in the Washington County town of Perry. In that attack, police said Abreau broke into the home of a woman in her late 60s. He threatened, assaulted and raped the woman.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the attack.

Abreau was convicted of aggravated assault in 2005 in connection with the stabbing of Michael Lagasse, then 23, in Lewiston. Abreau was sentenced to serve seven years in state prison, with all but two years suspended. He had originally been charged with attempted murder, but that charge was later dismissed.

He has since been released from prison, and is serving the tail-end of three years of probation. According to jail officials, Abreau was being held on a probation violation after his arrest by Sabattus police. He had been at the jail since June 27.

mlaflamme@sunjournal.com