Inmates Use Peanut Butter and Guile to Escape Alabama Jail

Inmates saved peanut butter from their sandwiches to use it later as modeling clay for their grand escape

Walker Country Jail in Jasper encountered a peanut butter situation to remember for years to come. Some inmates decided that jail is not for them, and escaped using peanut butter that they saved from their sandwiches. They used it as modeling clay to alter the number above a door that led to the outside of the building; it made the number look just like the ones above cell doors.

So, when an inmate asked that a guard open the door, the guard opened what he thought was a cell door. Instead, on Sunday evening, a dozen inmates walked straight through the door and made their grand escape with little effort.

“Changing some numbers on the door with peanut butter — that may sound crazy. But these people are crazy like a fox.” James E. Underwood, county sheriff said in a news conference

Even though they escaped, they did not have time to celebrate as they had been recaptured. The Seriff said that it took 8 hours to take the first 11 inmates into custody. The 12th was caught the following day.

With some help from the public, most of them were recaptured in the Jasper area, while at least two were picked up at the Flying J Travel plaza service near Interstate 65.

“We’ve got some evil people down here,” Sheriff Underwood said. “They scheme all the time to con us and our employees here at the jail. You have to stay on your toes. This is one time we slipped up. I’m not going to make any excuses. It was a human error that caused this to happen.”