Prison employees fired after 'Devil in the Ozarks' escape

The head of the Arkansas Board of Corrections told state lawmakers the violations allowed Grant Hardin to escape from the Calico Rock prison wearing a makeshift law enforcement uniform on May 25. But officials have said there was no evidence employees knowingly assisted Hardin’s escape.

One of the fired employees had allowed Hardin onto an outside kitchen dock unsupervised and the other employee worked in a tower and had opened the gate Hardin walked through without confirming his identity, Chairman Benny Magness said.

Hardin was captured 1.5 miles northwest of the Calico Rock prison on June 6. Authorities said he escaped by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform. Magness said the outfit was crafted from an inmate uniform and kitchen apron dyed black using a marker while a soup can lid and a Bible cover were fashioned to look like a badge.

Hardin, a former police chief in the small town of Gateway, near the Arkansas-Missouri border, is serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”


(Photos Arkansas Dept. of Corrections)