Jeffrey Grinder, 32, and Calvin Adams, 39, have both been convicted of murder. Each is serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole in a facility in Grady, Arkansas. The pair recently hatched and executed a plan to escape from prison, although they were only briefly successful. The men likely figured that because they had already received life sentences for violent crimes, they did not have anything to lose (as escaping from prison cannot carry a sentence greater than the one which had already been imposed).
The Grady prison facility inmates make the uniforms prison guards wear, in addition to other tasks. Grinder and Adams apparently realized that they could secretly don the guards' uniforms and slip out of the prison unnoticed. They arranged with three other people who were not in prison to leave them a car parked in the parking lot of the prison and set out to make their plan work.
Last Friday night, the men stayed in the prison's library until about 6:00, when they secretly changed from their standard-issue inmate clothing to the guard uniform. They knew that the guards changed shifts at that time and the inmates suspected their presence was least likely to be noticed then as they left the building. They were correct.
Grinder and Adams acted natural and walked past a number of guards. Many were getting off of their shifts, but several were assigned to guard the doors and watch for any inmates. Five of those guards have been placed on unpaid leave while the state investigates their failure to stop the two men. The inmates set off in the car that had been left for them and drove away. Eventually, however, New York police caught up with the duo after the car failed to signal properly. The police chased the inmates, ultimately taking them into custody.
