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Show Prisoner attempts jailbreak, comments on jail's poor condition CJfl -.iSk. i - nniiiniitMriiiKimi CEDAR CITY Prepared with food, water and a $100 bill and leaving behind a letter, an inmate of the Iron County Jail almost made it to freedom late Thursday night. Edward Russell Walton, charged with an armed robbery in Parowan and awaiting extradition to New York for parole violation on similar charges, had cut through the bars of the holding area and was ready to jump the jailer and leave, said Iron County Sheriff Ira Schoppmann, before the attempt was foiled by law enforcement officers. According to Schoppmann, Walton had somehow obtained a hacksaw blade and had sawed out one end of two bars in the common area of the cell block then kicked out the other ends which were rusted through. He also had torn a towel into strips and made a noose, supposedly to choke the jailer when he made rounds and then to leave town. However, jailer Pat Surber learned of the plan, and he and deputies were able to stop it before Walton even crawled out of the cell block. But, said Schoppmann, it could have been trouble. "He's a threat to the whole community," com-munity," he said. "He'd have probably killed a jailer, no question. If he'd nave had any problem at all he would have." Schoppmann went on to point out that the old Iron County Jail leaves the county wide open for such an escape of a dangerous criminal and thus endangers en-dangers the citizens of the area. There have been four actual escapes and four other attempts in the past four years, he said. Walton, in a letter he left behind for Surber, also pointed out the poor condition of the jail's security: '"You deserve a better jail than this one, I'm sure you'll get it. Feel free to use me as a reference in your fight for a new one," the letter said. "This old crowbar hotel has too many vulnerable points in its security. If my luck holds I'll be leaving you a graphic example tonite." The letter goes on to say that it took the inmate nearly a month of cutting, working a couple hours every night while everyone slept, to saw through the two bars. Walton claimed he found the blade "while searching through all the cracks and crevices in the bars and bunks," but Schoppmann doubted the story and figured the blade was supplied from the outside. The hole really isn't very big, but it's large enough for an inmate to squeeze through on his way to freedom. The jail officials had the bars welded back in place soon after the attempted jailbreak was discovered. |