03-07-2009, 01:20 PM
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CAMDEN COUNTY, GA -- Officials say an inmate sneaked out of confinement early Saturday for a cigarette run at a nearby convenience store, and got caught as he was sneaking back into the jail.
Camden County Sheriff Tommy Gregory tells First Coast News 25-year-old Harry Jackson of St. Marys broke out of the Camden County jail at 1:55 a.m.
The sheriff says Jackson got help from other inmates to use a bent wire from a broom to bypass electronic locks on a back door.
Jail officials had spotted suspicious activity on surveillance video, prompting an emergency headcount, so they immediately set out on Jackson's trail.
Shortly thereafter, a burglary alarm went off at a nearby convenience store.
"I thought we were looking for two different suspects. " Gregory says.
But Jackson was the culprit in both situations.
Dressed only in long johns after taking off his uniform, the inmate broke a door at the Snappy Foods store and grabbed 14 packs of cigarettes, then took off.
Around 3 a.m. blood hounds spotted Jackson hopping a fence to get back into the jail.
Sheriff Gregory says he hasn't seen anything like it. He adds that his new no-smoking policy may have had something to do with it.
"He must have done it because he really wanted to smoke ...I've never had an inmate try to sneak back into the jail."
Gregory says jail officials had heard rumors that inmates were sneaking out this way, but Jackson was the first person they caught.
The sheriff says ironically, a county engineer was already on schedule to come out Monday, to weld plates over the locks.
Jackson's prior convictions include cocaine charges, violation of probation, and obstruction of an officer. He will face further charges of Escape and Burglary.
