We consider a subshift of finite type on q symbols with a union of t cylinders based at words of identical length p as the hole. We explore the relationship between the escape rate into the hole and a rational function,
$r(z)$
, of correlations between forbidden words in the subshift with the hole. In particular, we prove that there exists a constant
$D(t,p)$
such that if
$q>D(t,p)$
, then the escape rate is faster into the hole when the value of the corresponding rational function
$r(z)$
evaluated at
$D(t,p)$
is larger. Further, we consider holes which are unions of cylinders based at words of identical length, having zero cross-correlations, and prove that the escape rate is faster into the hole with larger Poincaré recurrence time. Our results are more general than the existing ones known for maps conjugate to a full shift with a single cylinder as the hole.