Alabama prisoners stage dramatic escape with peanut butter
The world has seen some daring prison breaks, some ingenious ones, and some plain lucky. What happened at an Alabama prison was probably a combination of all three. Twelve inmates of the Walker County jail escaped. Only one managed to make it out of Alabama. He too was captured. They didn't cut through steel bars or drill underground tunnels. Instead, they used peanut butter.
The inmates laid out a brilliant but tricky plan
On July 30, these inmates painted the number on a cell door with peanut butter to look like the number on another door leading outside. Then one picked an unsuspecting guard and asked him to open the door to his "cell". Twelve escaped. They used blankets to cover and climb over the razor-wire fence. Some escaped in a truck while the others ran.
All but one were immediately nabbed
Now here are some facts about the jail: firstly, it has 240 inmates. Walker County Sheriff Jim Underwood has himself admitted that it needs "some improvements", including more monitors and cameras. The prisoners who escaped were between 18-30. Two are in prison for attempted murder. The others are charged with theft, drugs, domestic violence and more. Eleven of the 12 were quickly captured.
The last capture: One had managed to reach Florida
24-year-old Brady Kilpatrick, imprisoned for drug possession, managed to reach Florida. Investigators "developed information" that helped them locate him in Tequesta. Finally, two days after his escape, FBI and local law enforcement nabbed him.
What will happen to the inmates now?
According to Underwood, all the inmates will now face additional charges due to the escape. Two people on the outside - 18-year-old Jensen Davis Lefan and 24-year-old Hayden Mayberry - who helped in the escape are also facing charges for abetting a fugitive. Underwood didn't say if action will be taken against the guard. "We're going to take care of that matter," he commented.
Prison breaks aren't as infrequent as one would hope
Apparently such cases aren't infrequent. In 2015, two murderers drilled through walls to escape from a maximum-security prison in Upstate New York. Last December, six inmates in Tennessee ripped open a steel toilet attached to a wall. Recently, two inmates of Oklahoma escaped through the jail's ventilation system. They were nabbed. They fled again through the same system, this time with two more inmates.
