Inmate in solidtary after prison break plan
The Associated Press
LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Authorities used mail surveillance and a parole officer’s tip to foil a plot to help a killer escape from a maximum-security prison where he is serving a life sentence, the warden said Thursday.
FBI and state agents took Derrick Hancock, 53, into custody on a suspected parole violation July 15 at his home in Cleveland. Officials say he plotted to spring Christopher Harris, 33, from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
No charges have been filed.
State prison policy prohibits phone calls to Harris and Hancock and current attorneys for either were not listed in court records.
Harris was convicted on charges he raped and killed an 84-year-old woman near Fort Loramie north of Dayton. He and Hancock knew each other while serving time together several years ago at a prison in Toledo, Lucasville warden Phil Kerns said.
The warden said the escape plan called for Harris to injure himself enough to require treatment at a hospital, where he would leave with help from Hancock.
Harris and Hancock had discussed the plot in “subtle” messages in letters they exchanged, the warden said. In addition, Hancock’s parole officer received secondhand information about the plan and tipped off the prison, Kerns said.
Harris could face criminal charges and disciplinary measures, including transfer to Ohio’s “supermax” prison in Youngstown, Kerns said.
Hancock was sent to the Lorain Correctional Institution west of Cleveland and faces an Aug. 12 parole violation hearing.