By Jill Zeman Bleed
Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Department of Correction has fired five employees who were working when two convicted murderers escaped a state prison after donning guard uniforms made in the facility.
The fired workers included a captain, a sergeant and three correctional officers, department spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Thursday.
Officials don’t believe the workers intentionally helped inmates Calvin Adams and Jeffrey Grinder escape the Cummins Unit last month, she said, but an investigation continues.
“They were just a little lax,” Tyler said. “In this setting, in this business, the devil is in the details. You have to watch everything, all the time. We don’t think they did.”
Among the jobs for inmates at the prison, which is 90 miles southeast of Little Rock, is making uniforms for jail guards and law officers.
Video shows Grinder and Adams put on the uniforms in the prison library after a 6 p.m. headcount and walk out of the prison during a shift change.
The two inmates drove away in a car that was left for them. Arkansas State Police arrested three people accused of leaving the car there.
Grinder and Adams have been extradited from New York, where they were captured a few days after their escape.
Tyler wouldn’t name the fired employees, citing the ongoing investigation.