By Andy Hoffman
The Hawk Eye
FORT MADISON — Iowa prison officials Monday admitted staff mistakes were made at the former Fort Madison prison July 5, allowing a maximum security inmate to escape the facility by using a variety of items he stored inside the facility in preparation for his escape.
Although most of the 500 inmates at ISP were moved Aug. 1 to the new state-of-the-art prison a few miles from the former facility, prison officials decided to review the escape from the former facility by Justin Kestner, who was captured the next day in Geneseo, Ill.
According to a statement issued Monday by Nick Ludwick, ISP warden in Fort Madison, several mistakes made by staff allowing Kestner’s escape have been identified and corrected.
“Investigation of (the) escape revealed policy and procedural errors,” Ludwick said. “The lack of timely rounds, accurate log book entries by housing staff, routine quartermaster inventories, frequent cell searches and rounds by shift commanders have been addressed.”
At the time of his escape, Kestner was being held in the John Bennett Unit, a secured unit housing maximum-security inmates for restrictive housing purposes at the old facility. Ludwick said Monday the “A Pod and B Pod cells in (JBU) have been taken off line and are permanently closed.”
Ludwick said ISP officials also have made other security enhancements at the new institution, primarily through the addition of “razor wire/concertina wire and no-climb wires” in several areas of the physical plant.
“Through a collaboration of agency-wide assistance, ISP has fortified all of the fences previously deemed as barrier fences and out of bounds areas, or fire evacuation sites, by installing the wiring mentioned,” he said. “Extra rows of wire were also added to Sally Port/Stockade as well as adjacent fencing.”
Fred Scaletta, a DOC spokesman, said Kestner’s “manner of escape would not and could not happen at the new prison.”
Ludwick said Kestner was discovered missing about 4:45 a.m. during a head count July 5.
The guards became concerned when Kestner did not respond as required for the head count.
Prison guards then assembled a team of officers to enter the cell for a welfare check of Kestner.
“Upon entry into the cell, the team discovered that the blankets on the bed were covering a form that appeared to be a body,” Ludwick said. “The head was made of insulation, the arms were made up of milk cartons, and the rest of the body was made with pillows and clothing. Staff immediately determined that offender Kestner was missing.”
According to Ludwick, Kestner told investigators how he escaped from the prison.
“He indicated he noticed that some of the screws on his stainless steel shower were partially loose after being placed in cell A-9 on June 25th,” the investigation reveals. “He stated he worked a couple screws out and used them to help remove additional screws that allowed him access to the pipe chase adjacent to his cell.
“Upon gaining access to the chase, Kestner claimed he climbed up the chase and into the attic. He used the attic space to store the dummy, sheets fashioned into rope and additional sheets. He attached another sheet to the screw openings in the shower to pull it back into place so his absence would not be detected. He gained access to the roof after crawling through the attic and locating a vent.”
He said he was nearly caught by staff while making several practice runs in the days preceding his escape.
Kestner reported leaving the facility about 45 minutes after the 9 p.m. head count on July 4.
“He claims that he waited until the fireworks display had started (July 4) as tower staff would likely be distracted and it would be less likely to be noticed as he walked toward the parking lot following a shift change,’ Ludwick said.
“Offender Kestner had sufficient rope to be within five feet of the ground from an 82-foot roof, but opted to descent on the downspout attached to the building outside of the fence, which was also blocked by the ongoing boiler room construction.”
He constructed the rope from torn bed sheets and used the drain pipe to make his way to the ground from the roof of the unit to the unfenced area.
The Illinois State Police were notified at 7:22 a.m. July 5 of Kestner’s escape.
He was later located and captured by an Illinois State Trooper at 9:52 a.m. the same morning walking along Illinois Route 82, a half-mile south of Interstate 80.”
The new, 45-acre prison not only is much larger than the present facility but also represents a change in philosophy, Scaletta said. In addition to having a direct view of all prisoners’ cells, guards will use more than 350 cameras to keep an eye on them.
The new prison is the state’s most secure facility, capable of housing about 800 of Iowa’s worst offenders. The original prison was the oldest west of the Mississippi River.