Recapping Arkansas legislative committee hearing addressing Grant Hardin escape

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Lawmakers are questioning the escape of inmate Grant Hardin from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock. 

Some are concerned that the incident reflects systemic failures within the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

Many department officials said this is due to human error and employee complacency. 

Officials testified during a legislative hearing Thursday, revealing a timeline of events leading up to Hardin’s escape from the facility. 

According to corrections officials, Hardin was allowed onto the prison kitchen’s back dock at 1:58 p.m. on the day of the escape. He fled nearly an hour later, at 2:53 p.m. They didn’t notice until 3:08 p.m., and the prison did not go on lockdown until 3:40 p.m.

State Sen. Ben Gilmore (R-Crossett) is one of many lawmakers wondering how this happened. 

“The initial reaction is to blame two people, I think what we’ve established through the course of this hearing, is that it’s more than two people,” Gilmore said. “It’s a systematic failure of the system, and that systematic failure has to be corrected.”

Hardin worked in the kitchen for several years. Officials say he crafted a fake badge out of a metal lid, darkened his clothes with a Sharpie, and used a kitchen apron to resemble a vest. He also built a makeshift ladder using wooden pallets from the back dock. 

Warden Thomas Hurst said that although proper policies were in place, they were not followed.

“When you have somebody complacent like that, bad things happen, unfortunately,” Hurst said. “We had the policies in place, the procedures in place, they just didn’t follow them.”

Hardin was left unsupervised on the back dock before the escape and possession checks were not conducted in the kitchen area.

Benny Magness, chairman of the Arkansas Board of Corrections, called the situation a case of human error and complacency. 

“If either one of those [staff members] would’ve done their job… you can’t convince me it’s systematic from the rest of the staff,” Magness said.

A gate officer didn’t verify identity and opened the gate for Hardin to walk out. 

Some lawmakers questioned whether Hardin should have been at the North Central Unit at all. Inmate classifications range from C1 to C5, with higher numbers meaning more security. Hardin was classified as a C3 and held at a medium-security facility.

“I think classification is a big concern, one of things we tried to address with the Protect Act, that classification study hasn’t been done,” Gilmore said. 

Corrections Secretary Lindsay Wallace testified that Hardin should have been given a higher classification following a second conviction.

“If the appropriate classification would’ve been done initially after that second conviction, then it would’ve at least triggered a review by someone beyond just the unit,” Wallace said.

Wallace said her department is now reviewing staff training and internal policies.

When the manhunt began, there was a breakdown in communication, leading to some law enforcement agencies not being notified immediately. 

Hurst agreed with a statement by a lawmaker that everyone assumed someone else had made the notifications. 

Hardin survived for days on the run by eating peanut butter sandwiches taken from the prison, blueberries, bird eggs and worms, officials said. He hid in caves and other structures before he was captured by the U.S. Border Patrol agents on June 6.

A critical incident review is now underway to determine further steps.

“If something is predictable, then it’s preventable, based on what I’m hearing, it was predictable that someone was going to escape, and the actions weren’t taken to prevent it,” Gilmore said. 

“There’s nobody more embarrassed about this than me,” Hurst said, “I mean this is not good, we failed, and I understand that.”

The critical incident review is set to take place on July 21. Arkansas State Police are also investigating the escape.