Arkansas authorities say additional employees disciplined at prison
where ex-police chief escaped
[August 12, 2025]
By ANDREW DeMILLO
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Additional employees at an Arkansas prison have
been disciplined for not following procedures after a convicted murderer
known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” escaped earlier this summer, a state
prison system official told lawmakers Monday.
Arkansas Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne said several
employees at the Calico Rock prison had been suspended and another
demoted for allowing inmates to use an outdoor kitchen dock
unsupervised. Payne did not specify how many employees had been
suspended, and did not give their names.
“Those employees have also been disciplined for their actions,” Payne
told members of the Legislative Council's Charitable, Penal and
Correctional Institutions Subcommittee.
The dock had played a key role in the May 25 escape of Grant Hardin from
the prison, formally known as the North Central Unit. Two employees at
the facility, including one who allowed Hardin on the dock unsupervised,
had previously been fired in the weeks following his escape. Hardin held
a job in the prison's kitchen.
Hardin was captured 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) northwest of the Calico
Rock prison on June 6. Authorities said he escaped by donning an outfit
designed to look like a law enforcement uniform. The outfit was crafted
from an inmate uniform and a kitchen apron dyed black using a marker,
while a soup can lid and a Bible cover were fashioned to look like a
badge, corrections officials told the panel last month.
The other employee who had been fired earlier had opened the gate that
Hardin walked through without confirming his identity.
Payne said corrections officials have nearly completed the report on
their critical incident review of the escape. A report on the State
Police's investigation into the escape has also been sent to the
governor's office, the Department of Public Services said.
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This combo of images released by the Arkansas Department of
Corrections shows the recapture of escaped inmate Grant Hardin, an
ex-police chief and convicted killer, by Arkansas law enforcement
officers and the U.S. Border Patrol, June 6, 2025, near Moccasin
Creek in Izard County, about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) northwest of
Calico Rock prison. in Calico Rock, Ark. (Arkansas Department of
Corrections via AP, File
Payne said the review also found that Hardin had been incorrectly
classified as eligible to be housed at Calico Rock, which is
primarily a medium-security facility. Hardin had been held at the
Calico Rock prison since 2017. Payne said he didn't know why Hardin
wasn't correctly classified.
“Without an override, he should not have been there,” Payne said.
After he was captured, Hardin was taken to a maximum-security
prison. Hardin has pleaded not guilty to an escape charge and is set
to go on trial in November.
Hardin, a former police chief in the small town of Gateway, near the
Arkansas-Missouri border, is serving lengthy sentences for murder
and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary “Devil in the
Ozarks.”
One change that has been made at the facility since the escape is an
increase in searches outside the facility, Payne said. Officials
have previously said Hardin fashioned a ladder out of wooden pallets
that he kept on the dock.
“The back dock area was not searched enough, or they would have
found he was hiding items on that back dock,” he said.
Payne faced further pushback from lawmakers who said the escape
points to a more systemic issue than two employees not doing their
job.
“Yeah, people didn't do their job, but also there should be checks
and balances to ensure that people do their job,” Republican Sen.
Ben Gilmore said. “Where are those checks and balances?”
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