Forget the knotted bed sheets or tunnel. A New York prisoner has come up with a much easier way to break out of jail: ask the guards for the exit.

The inmate, who was wearing a suit for a court appearance on charges of multiple store robberies, simply wandered out an open cell door and into a courtroom Wednesday, the New York Post daily reported.

There, he calmly asked a court officer "which way is out?" and the guard -- mistaking the escapee for a lawyer -- directed him to the lobby.

The daring jailbird went straight to his 81-year-old mother's Manhattan home to change clothes, then left, she told the Post.

"I thought he was discharged. He was all dressed up," she said.