Escapees fool jailer with peanut butter

JASPER, Ala. — An Alabama sheriff said a dozen inmates escaped from jail by using peanut butter to change the number on a door to trick a new employee into opening a door leading outside the jail.

Walker County Sheriff James Underwood said the inmates used peanut butter from jail sandwiches to change the number above an inmate’s cell to the number that identifies the outside door. An inmate then asked the young, inexperienced jailer to open his cell’s door, enabling the group to flee outside, where they used blankets to climb over a razor-wire fence.

“It may sound crazy, but these kinds of people are crazy like a fox,” Underwood told a news conference. “He thought he was opening the cell door for this man to go in his cell, but in fact he opened up the outside door.”

The fugitives were between 18 and 30, facing charges ranging from disorderly conduct to attempted murder. All but one of the dozen inmates were captured within eight hours, and the sheriff said he hopes and expects the last one to be back in custody by day’s end.