12 Alabama inmates used peanut butter to trick worker in their escape from jail: Sheriff
— -- A dozen Alabama inmates cooked up a plot to hoodwink a new employee at the Walker County Jail, using peanut butter to trick the staffer into opening an alternate door over the weekend, Walker County Sheriff James Underwood said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Underwood said a recent hire at the jail was in the control room keeping count of inmates when they asked to have a door opened. But the inmates had used peanut butter from jailhouse sandwiches to trick the staffer.
“They had changed the number over the door with peanut butter, they hollered, 'hey, open the door...,' but that door number was the outside door, and unbeknowingly to him, he hit that lock and out the door they went,” Underwood said.
Of the 12 escapees, 11 have since been caught, including the two most serious offenders, the sheriff said.
Brady Andrew Kilpatrick, 24, is still at large after breaking out of the jail in Jasper, about 40 miles northwest of Birmingham, authorities said. Kilpatrick was in jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana, authorities said.
Underwood said during the escape the inmates threw blankets over a razor wire fence so they could climb over.
No citizens or employees have been injured during the escape, but two of the inmates were hurt while fleeing the jail, and one is in the hospital, Underwood said.
The inmates took advantage of a young employee who had not been working there very long and the employee, who was keeping track of 150 inmates at the time, "made a mistake," Underwood said.
"He should have been more cautious about it," he said.
Underwood added, "We’ve got some evil people down here. And 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 never going to make any excuses -- it was a human error that caused this to happen."
Underwood said there are "some deficiencies" at the jail, and it would take about $300,000 in funding to fix security issues. The chances of getting that money, he said, are "slim."
Underwood added that inmates at Walker County Jail will continue to be served peanut butter.
ABC News' Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.
