Two employees at the North Central Unit, Calico Rock ADC facility where an inmate Grant Hardin aka ‘Devil in the Ozarks’ escaped have been fired for policy violations according to prison authorities as they faced questions from lawmakers who said the escape points to much deeper problems in the system.
Representatives from the Arkansas Board of Corrections told state lawmakers the violations allowed inmate Grant Hardin to escape the Calico Rock prison wearing a makeshift law enforcement uniform on May 25th 2025. Although no evidence has surfaced implicating employees knowingly assisted Hardin’s escape.
One of the fired ADC employees allegedly allowed Hardin onto an outside kitchen dock unsupervised and another ADC employee worked in a tower and had opened the gate Hardin walked through without confirming his identity, according to Chairman Benny Magness.
Magness continued saying “If either one of them would have been following policy, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Hardin was eventually captured 1.5 miles northwest of the Calico Rock prison on June 6th 2025.
Hardin escaped by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform, the outfit was crafted from an inmate uniform and kitchen apron dyed black using a marker, while a soup can lid and a Bible cover were fashioned to look like a badge.
The escape pointed to systemic problems beyond the two employees, including how Hardin was able to fashion the fake uniform without guards noticing.
Hardin, a former police chief in the small town of Gateway, near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was incarcerated on convictions for rape and murder.
Hardin was the subject of the TV documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”
After his capture, Hardin was transferred to a maximum security prison in Varner.