BRICKEYS (KFSM) — An inmate reported missing from an East Arkansas prison has been found — still at the prison.
Calvin Adams, 49, was reported missing from the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys overnight Monday, but he was found Tuesday morning about 8:30 a.m.
He was hiding under a ventilation hood on the roof of the prison, the Arkansas Department of Corrections announced.
His absence was discovered during a unit-wide count on Monday (Sept. 30), the Arkansas Department of Corrections said when issuing a be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) alert. He is currently serving a sentence of life without parole in a capital murder case out of Greene County.
This is the second time Adams has escaped, according to prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler. She confirmed that Adams also escaped in 2009 while wearing a prison guard uniform.
On May 29, 2009, Adams and Jeffrey Grinder, both serving life without parole for capital murder, walked out of the Cummins Unit, located about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Little Rock, wearing guard uniforms and drove away in a car that was left for them in the prison’s parking lot. They were arrested in New York state four days later.
Adams was convicted of capital murder in 1995 in the kidnapping and shooting death the year earlier of 25-year-old Richard Austin. Austin’s wife was wounded and walked for more than a mile for help.
Adams has had several disciplinary violations since May 2018, including possession of contraband and lying to a staff member in January. His record also lists an escape violation in January, but Tyler said that was for being where he wasn’t supposed to and not an escape from the facility.
Adams and Grinder were sentenced to an additional six years in prison after pleading guilty to the 2009 escape. Six guards were fired and another was disciplined. Inmates also stopped sewing guard uniforms at the Cummins unit. Prison officials at the time said it appeared the inmates received no help from correction officers.
Prison officials at the time said it appeared the inmates received no help from correction officers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
