Dauphin County Prison: A True Shawshank Attempt

An interesting article in The Patriot-News reminds all of us again that real prison stories do not have “Shawshank  Redemption” endings. As one inmate learned the hard way, sometimes you cannot dig yourself out of a problem. The following article reported what prison is really like.

By Jeff Frantz of Penn-Live

Dauphin County Prison will remain on lockdown until Tuesday after a prisoner was caught trying to tunnel out of his cell. He wasn’t even close.

The man tried tunneling out of the prison with a piece of metal he broke off a tray in his cell. The prison has been on lockdown since he was caught, nowhere close to reaching an outside wall, said county spokeswoman Amy Richards.

Now the rest of the prison will likely remain on lockdown until Tuesday, as guards do a full sweep of all of the cells. During that time, prisoners will remain locked in their cells, and visitation will be restricted.

The prison has yet to identify the would be escapee. Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division and the District Attorney’s Office are investigating his attempt and may file additional charges against him.

The damage he did to the tray and his cell wall is still being assessed, Richards said.