By Jeff Muskus
The New Orleans Times-Picayune
ST. TAMMANY, La. — A Michigan man who was sentenced to life in prison last week but was mistakenly allowed to keep his trusty status escaped Sunday night from the St. Tammany Parish jail in Covington.
Tony Massie, 44, of Plymouth, Mich., who was convicted of attempted robbery in May, was working as an inmate trusty at the parish jail, helping to prepare food, Sheriff Jack Strain said.
After interviewing about 400 inmates, the sheriff said, investigators concluded that Massie gained access to a fenced area outside the jail after dinner Sunday night, then hid behind a trash bin until about 8 p.m., when he scaled the fence and escaped.
The sheriff attributed Massie’s continued trusty status, which enabled his escape, to “human error,” citing a lack of communication among the courts, the district attorney’s office and his own agency.
“At no point was he deemed a flight risk,” Strain said.
According to Sheriff’s Office policy, inmates must be minimum- or medium-security risks with no disciplinary record at the jail to qualify as a trusty.
Strain said he expects to recapture Massie, but he said the convict, who had no family and few friends in the area, has likely already left the parish.
“Once we catch him, I assure you he will not qualify for trusty status in our prison or any other,” Strain said.
After his conviction on the attempted robbery charge, for which he was arrested in May 2006, Massie was sentenced Wednesday in 22nd Judicial District Court to life in prison under the Habitual Offender Law. His earlier convictions, all in Michigan, included unlawful driving away, fleeing a police officer, criminal sexual conduct and breaking and entering, according to the district attorney’s office.
Massie’s escape was the first reported by the Sheriff’s Office since 2003, when convicted burglar Eugene Cossich sneaked out of a jail sally port and spent 41 days in the woods behind his family’s property before being arrested again. Cossich received 20 years imprisonment in addition to his standing 22-year sentence.
Copyright 2007 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company