(NewsNation) — Grant Hardin, the so-called “Devil in the Ozarks,” spent six months planning his escape from an Arkansas prison, utilizing weak security points in the prison kitchen and a fake officer uniform to break out, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
A critical incident review report from the department into Hardin’s escape revealed details of the daring escape in May.
Sharpies and pallet ladder used in Grant Hardin’s escape
The convicted rapist and murderer said he used black Sharpie markers and laundry he found lying around the kitchen where he worked to create the fake uniform, the report stated. Hardin also created a fake prison badge using the lid of a can.
Hardin stored the clothes and “other items he was going to need in the bottom of a trash can in the kitchen due to no one ever shaking it down,” the report says.
On the day of his escape, Hardin was also allowed to go into an unlocked room to the side of the prison dock unsupervised, where some pallets were stored, as well as carts containing metal food cans for recycling, the report stated. He was seen carrying out a homemade ladder made of pallets and a box.
Hardin was captured on June 6 near Moccasin Creek in Izard County, less than two miles west of the prison where he escaped from. Agents from the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, helped with the capture.
The report stated that the “kitchen staff was very lax on security allowing him to get what he needed. Hardin denied having any help from other inmates or staff.”
Aftermath of escape
Two prison employees have been fired for procedural violations that led to Hardin’s escape. They include a kitchen employee who allowed Hardin on a back dock unsupervised and a tower guard who unlocked the back gate that Hardin walked through without confirming his identity.
Several other employees have been suspended and one demoted, according to the report.
The report stated that Hardin had been misclassified and shouldn’t have been held at the medium-security prison. After he was captured, Hardin was moved to a maximum-security prison.
After he escaped from the prison, Hardin survived on food he had smuggled out of the prison along with distilled water from his CPAP machine. Hardin also drank creek water and ate berries, bird eggs and ants.
“He said his plan was to hide in the woods for six months if need be and begin moving west out of the area,” the report says.
Grant Hardin’s conviction and capture
Hardin was a former police chief in the small town of Gateway, near the Arkansas-Missouri border.
He is serving sentences for murder and rapes. The crimes were the subject of the TV documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”
Hardin’s escape resulted in a weekslong manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies.
He has pleaded not guilty to escape charges, and his trial is set for November.
A legislative subcommittee has also been holding hearings about the escape.
Republican Rep. Howard Beaty, who co-chairs the Legislative Council’s Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee, said the panel hoped to discuss both reports with officials at a hearing next month.
Republican Sen. Ben Gilmore, who sits on the panel, said he didn’t think the department’s review took a thorough enough look at the systemic issues that enabled Hardin’s escape.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
