Missing prison officer, inmate had ‘special relationship’

MONTGOMERY: As the search for an Alabama correctional officer and inmate who disappeared together nearly a week ago stretched out, authorities revealed the pair had a ‘‘special relationship’’ beyond the officer’s normal work hours, which included special privileges for the inmate.

Authorities said assistant director for corrections Vicky White (56) and an unrelated inmate, Casey White (38), vanished together last Friday (US time) after leaving a northern Alabama jail. Police also released surveillance video of the pair as they left the facility, the lastknown sighting of them.

After an investigation that included interviews with other inmates at the Florence, Alabama, jail, police determined Casey White had been receiving extra food and other ‘‘privileges noone else got’’ from Vicky White, Sheriff Rick Singleton said. ‘‘All indications’’ pointed to Vicky White willingly helping Casey White escape, he said.

Due to the escape and her apparent part in it, Vicky White was fired, Singleton said. Vicky White, a 16year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was working her last day on the Friday after turning in paperwork to retire. He said her termination would bar her from receiving statefunded pension contributions.

She had also recently sold her home, which sat on an about 1.5ha of property. The home sold for $US95,500 ($NZ146,530), well below the market value for the area, only 12 days before her disappearance.

Vicky White was armed when she left the jail with the shackled and handcuffed Casey White for what she told colleagues was a mental health evaluation for the inmate at a courthouse but no such evaluation was scheduled that day. — TCA