Inmate Falls To His Death During Escape Attempt
POSTED: 5:54 pm CDT August 30, 2010UPDATED: 1:43 pm CDT August 31, 2010TEXARKANA -- An inmate's attempt to escape from the Bi-State Justice Center by lowering himself from the roof with a makeshift rope failed when the rope broke, sending him plummeting five stories to his death.
Anthony Lewis, 30, of Springhill, La., fell 72 feet to the ground Monday afternoon. He died late Monday night at a Little Rock hospital.
Lewis was among the federal prisoners who are held at Bi-State for the U.S. Marshal's Service. He was awaiting sentencing for a bank robbery in south Arkansas, authorities said.
Sheriff's deputies said Lewis fashioned the rope out of jail-issue uniforms that were torn into pieces.
The escape attempt began on the roof of the jail, where there is a fenced-in exercise yard. The rope broke as Lewis was on the side of the building and attempting to lower himself to the ground, authorities said. He landed on the concrete below.
Authorities are trying to determine how Lewis got materials to make the rope and how he managed to get over the fence without being stopped.
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