Inmate death tied to state budget cuts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Staff retirements and budget cuts contributed to reduced security at a state prison, where two inmates allegedly killed a third and then hid from authorities for four days, according to a Corrections Department report.

The incident last October prompted an internal review of security procedures at the Missouri State Penitentiary. As a result, the prison has reduced its inmate population, reshuffled its staff to keep a closer eye on prisoners and added 16 video surveillance cameras, according to a report obtained under an open-records request by The Associated Press.

"If there is a positive side to something very negative happening, it is that it tells staff how vulnerable the institution is, how dangerous it is," Corrections Department director Gary Kempker said in an interview Friday, a little over three months after the prison slaying.

"This situation raised the awareness of our staff," he added. "Policies and procedures were changed and supervision levels of staff increased, all as a result of that."

On Oct. 22, convicted murderer Toby Viles was found dead in a prison ice plant in the basement of a housing unit and his two co-workers -- convicted murderers Shannon Phillips and Chris Sims -- both were reported missing.

After a widespread search inside and outside the prison, Sims and Phillips were discovered Oct. 26 hiding under a stairwell -- less than 10 yards from where Viles' body had been found.

The two prisoners had punched a hole in the stairwell's concrete block wall, covered it up with a tool pegboard, wired electricity to their hideout and stocked it with food, authorities said. Neither has been charged yet with any crime.

The Corrections Department report, dated just two weeks after the incident but not publicly released until now, notes that two maintenance supervisors whose responsibilities included the icehouse retired under a budget-cutting state incentive program a couple of months before the killing.

The prisoners began preparing their hiding area shortly after the retirements, the report said.

At about the same time, a standard housing unit was converted into an administrative segregation unit for prisoners, requiring more intense staff supervision.

The same guards responsible for the increased security at the housing unit also were supposed to pick up the slack for the missing maintenance staff by checking more frequently on the inmates working in the icehouse, the report said.

But records indicate that did not happen -- at least not on Oct. 22.

Unwatched hours

Sims, Phillips and Viles were locked in the ice plant without any direct supervision. Prison guards accounted for all three inmates at 3:30 p.m. But apparently they did not enter the icehouse again until 9:40 p.m., when Viles was found dead.

In between then, Sims left to eat from 5 p.m. and 5:20 p.m., but the other two did not. Between 6 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. Sims called the housing unit and informed personnel they would need to work longer hours due to problems in the ice plant. At 6:30 p.m., some other inmates returned ice barrels to the plant, but they were met by Sims at the bottom of the stairs and never went into the plant itself.

Kempker said an internal inspector general's review, conducted after his written report to Gov. Bob Holden, found no employee particularly at fault for the security gap that occurred the day of the killing.

"Basically, the bottom line was there was no individual human error that contributed greatly to this incident," Kempker said. "It was more the various situations that exist there -- the age of the facility, the number of personnel available for assignments."

Parts of the Missouri State Penitentiary date to 1836 -- the same year the Alamo fell in Texas -- and contain numerous nooks and crannies that make it difficult to guard. The prison is scheduled to close later this year when the new Jefferson City Correctional Center opens.

Since the incident, the prison's population has been reduced from 1,970 inmates to 1,828, allowing guards to keep a slightly closer watch on those who remain, Kempker said. Although some of the transferred inmates were low-security, many were maximum-security inmates considered inclined to attempt escapes. Phillips was transferred to the Potosi Correctional Center; Sims remains at the penitentiary, Kempker said. The ice plant is closed.

Also since the incident, the Corrections Department received special approval to hire replacements for any retired maintenance workers, whose positions otherwise would have remained vacant under the retirement incentive regulations.

Holden, who requested the review, is satisfied with the security improvements that have been made, said spokeswoman Mary Still.

"But there are still concerns with that facility," primarily because of its age, Still said, "and there are still concerns with the effects of budget cuts."