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FRANKFORT, Ky. – Just how cold is it in the U.S.? Apparently cold enough for an escaped prisoner to turn himself in.

Authorities say the inmate escaped from a minimum security facility in Kentucky on Sunday. As temperatures dropped far below freezing Monday, they say he walked into a motel and asked the clerk to call police.

Watch the video below: Much of United States facing polar temperatures

Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts says 42-year-old Robert Vick told the clerk he wanted to turn himself in and escape the arctic air.

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Roberts says Vick was checked out by paramedics and returned to Blackburn Correctional Complex.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb says Vick would have been dressed in prison-issued pants, a shirt and a jacket when he escaped.

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