LIFE AND TIMES OF A CORRECTIONAL OFFICER
By R. Mark Shepard

(Chapter 5)

The greatest escape for this particular institution is one that I will never forget, because I saw this escape unfold first hand; I was there from the time it happened, and stayed until the end.

The Institution was building a New Church Chapel for all of The Wonderfully Religious Inmates who had seen the light - and even for those who have not. All of the Materials to build the Chapel were brought in mainly by the Outside Grounds Personnel who worked for the State.

On one late afternoon, one of the State's employees who worked with Minimum Custody Inmates on the Construction Squad was calling it quits for the day at the Chapel.  (OH, did I forget to mention that this new chapel was being built ON the compound, inside the prison area?) 

The State employee was driving the State dump truck from the Chapel area to the back gate (Unescorted by any Correctional Officer).  I had just walked past the truck and asked him if everything was OK, and the State Employee said, "Yes, everything is fine". The truck had almost made it to the back gate when Officer Tim called me on the radio and asked me why the Dump truck was stopped. At that instant, I turned around and saw an inmate open the driver's door of the truck and pull the State Employee to the ground. At the same time, 2 other inmates jumped into the bed of the truck with the inmate who was now driving.  I immediately radioed the Control Room that there was an escape in progress, and the dump truck sped off towards the back gate. Two very large rolling gates, approximately 18 feet high, were the only 2 things in the way of the truck and the outside world for these inmates.

When the truck hit the first gate, I figured that the gate would surely slow down the truck, or at least stop it before it hit the second gate. I was wrong: The first gate snapped like a twig and the inmate driver lost control of the truck for a brief period. It looked as if he would hit one of the Steel I Beams that held the gates together, but at the last second, he straightened out the truck's direction and hit the second gate with the force of hitting the first gate and almost lost control, did lose speed. It was for sure that the second gate would hold, I figured... Well, I was wrong again. It too snapped like a twig folding up, but this time with not as much force as the other gate. The impact crushed the hood of the truck and forced it onto the windshield, which made it very difficult for the driver to see where he was going. The truck continued onto a dirt road back between the outside warehouse and the outside maintenance building, which led towards the Sewer Plant. Now, he was driving down the dirt road with his head stuck out of the window, going as fast as he could go. The inmate driver ended up running into a dead-end... the Prison Dog Yard. 

In the meantime, one of the 4 Gun trucks and Lt. Jesse were in pursuit of the truck. When the truck finally stopped, all of the inmates started to run as fast as they could. Lt. Jesse took aim with the 12 gauge shotgun, and shot 2 inmates with one shot (lucky). The other two inmates kept running, but not knowing where they were going, they ran towards the Institution's Base living quarters where the Superintendent's house and other employee’s homes were.

Other armed officers were already in the area, and beating the brush for the other two inmates. As two of the officers walked by the superintendent's house and around the backyard, they were discussing the possibility of seeing the other inmates and that they would, of course, be shot on sight, no questions asked. As one officer made that particular statement, they were walking by a big hammock that someone had put up in their backyard. One of the inmates had rolled himself inside the hammock and was so afraid that he was going to be shot, that he hollered, "Don't shoot, I give up".

The officers, who hadn't even looked towards the hammock, couldn't believe what they had heard. This left only one more to be captured.

The local Sheriff's Helicopter was already in the area, and as it got darker, another helicopter was brought to the institution from another agency. Both helicopters searched the area all night long with their lights and Night Vision and Heat detection equipment.

One of the Helicopters kept hovering over one area directly behind the Institution because he kept picking up traces of some kind of body heat with his sensor. The officers and the K-9 units searched every inch of the Institution grounds all the way to the Interstate and other local roads, back and forth all night long. The inmate wasn't found.

The next morning on the way to work, a Sergeant who lives South of the Institution was on the Interstate by the prison, when he saw someone sticking their head up out of the tall grass and looking around as if he were lost or looking for someone or something. Having a cell phone, the sergeant immediately called the prison and notified them of what he had seen. 

The K-9 unit and many other officers were on this inmate so fast he did not know what hit him. This inmate was an Ex-Military man, and he had dug himself in the ground so that no one would find him. But not being familiar with Florida and it's different types of habitat, he did not know about the palmetto bugs, water moccasins, armadillos, red ant's or any of the other hundreds of biting insects. His skin had so many bites on it, and he was so eaten up from the creatures in the earth chewing on him, that he couldn't wait to get back in his prison cell.

The only transportation from the swamp-like land back to the institution was by the prison 4-wheel drive truck which had dog cages in the bed. The inmate was handcuffed and stuffed inside one of the dog cages. The superintendent and the upper brass had sent a new transport van to the rear of the Institution, where the road met the swamp. Because of all the press that was present at the prison, they didn't want them to see this inmate stuffed inside a dog cage. The superintendent and the others didn't want the public to get the wrong image of the prison. I mean after all, they didn't want anyone to think that they had abused the poor inmate after all of the destruction and mayhem he and the others had caused, RIGHT!

CONTACT MARK SHEPARD
markshepard2003@yahoo.com