Dannemora by Charles A. Gardner

Author:Charles A. Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

SUBTERRANEAN STRUGGLES

SWEAT’S REMOVAL OF THE PIPE HANGER between B-Block and C-Block opened the way to the tunnel under C-Block housing unit. There the two inmates found a concrete cover bolted to the floor. They immediately thought this was their ticket to freedom and sawed through the bolts that secured it. But removing the slab exposed only rotten wood and solid concrete. This would not be their way out.

For days they explored the maze of tunnels. Their self-guided tour took them under the C-Block, D-Block, and E-Block housing units and the prison hospital. Their tunnel travels were a treasure hunt. They scavenged a discarded bolt, covered in rust; construction rebar; an empty water jug; a misplaced extension cord with a work light; a wooden mop handle; and an unused pipe hanger. All these items would later prove useful.

One night the tunnels bore a gift in the form of a construction job box. What were the chances, the inmates wondered, that the box was filled with tools? Using tweezers and a paper clip, Sweat quickly picked the lock and opened the lid. They were disappointed to find it held nothing usable. As a precaution, though, they re-locked it.

In a tunnel under C-Block, they discovered a large-diameter insulated pipe lettered “LPS,” which meant low-pressure steam. The prison’s utilities including power, heat, telephone, and sewer all penetrate under the perimeter wall. Nothing goes over. Matt and Sweat knew that following those services to their source would translate to a way out. The insulated pipe led the inmates to a solid brick wall between C-Block housing unit and the Industry Building. With a hacksaw blade, they cut the end of the rusty bolt they had found earlier, creating a crude chisel. The discarded pipe hanger served as a pry bar. With those makeshift tools, they began to slowly chip away at three layers of bricks.

The bricks, reinforced with concrete, proved a formidable obstacle. The inmates’ arduous labor let them remove only a few bricks each night. At the end of each night’s work, they carefully returned the bricks to their original position. The structure had to look intact if the tunnels should be inspected.

Unknown to them, though, they had nothing to worry about. Years earlier, Clinton’s guards had abandoned tunnel inspections. This happened in the mid-1990s when the prison guards’ job descriptions were restructured under cost-saving orders from Albany. New job descriptions meant nobody was specifically assigned to inspect the tunnels—a duty that had formerly been a routine part of a designated officer’s job.

In one of many ironies surrounding the escape, Clinton Correctional Facility administrators had recognized the problem and recently established a new tunnel inspection policy. But it didn’t take effect in time to discover evidence of the escape attempt in progress. After the fact, of course, Corrections leaders in Albany concluded that tunnel inspections were a good idea after all. They are once again a part of the prison’s security routine.

After two weeks of undetected but futile labor, Matt and Sweat had not come close to breaching the solidly built foundation wall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.