Tennessee Prisoner Escapes For Sixth Time, Police Say
Police said they're seeking to track down the whereabouts of an inmate that managed to escape from a correctional facility Monday in Shelbyville, Tennessee, for the sixth time.
Andrew Philip Marshall, who was placed behind bars at Bedford County Jail on non-violent charges, currently remains uncaptured, according to the Tennessean. Officials with the Bedford County Sheriff's Office believe Marshall is likely wearing jeans and a dark blue shirt, or sweatshirt.
"At approximately 5:00 this morning Bedford County Sheriff's Office was notified by corrections staff that Andrew Philip Marshall had escaped from custody," the police wrote on Facebook. "Please be on the lookout for Andrew Phillip Marshall and notify Bedford County Sheriff's Office immediately at 931-684-3232 with any tips or sightings."
Police say Marshall exited the jail Thursday through a ventilation shaft. However, officials are uncertain as to how he managed to do so. It isn't suspected that he secured help from fellow inmates.
This serves as Marshall's second reported escape in 2018. The inmate previously broke out of jail Jan. 18 after an officer left him unshackled as he took a shower, which he's always supposed to remain shackled when taken outside of his cell. Marshall, therefore, exited through a door that a jail employee didn't properly close.
Marshall has escaped four times in the last eight months, according to Nashville outlet WZTV. The prisoner was even joined by inmates James David Stinnettin and Kevin Lane Farraran in a September 2017 breakout. The trio transformed multiple bedsheets into a rope, which they used to scale the correctional facility's wall, authorities said.
"It's very frustrating, and it's frustrating sometimes that employees don't do what they're supposed to do," Sheriff Austin Swing said of Marshall's continuous escapes WSMV, a Nashville news station.
Bedford County Jail, which was built in the 1980s, has a crowding issue. The facility was only meant told hold an official capacity of 68 but the number of imprisoned persons grew to nearly 200 by October 2017, the Shelbyville Times-Gazette reported. Since prisoners outnumber guards at the jail 50 to 1, this could be attributed to the reasoning for Marshall's multiple escape attempts.
Improvements to the jail are expected to come sometime in 2018, but a date hasn't been determined for the renovations at this time.
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office did not immediately return International Business Times' request for comment.
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