A Tennessee inmate convicted of killing a co-worker escaped from prison over the weekend, adding to a string of troubles for the state's correctional system. The escape came only weeks after the failed execution of Christa Pike.
Jacob Morley, 28, was last known to be in Marion, Illinois, on Tuesday. Authorities say he slipped through a fence in his prison clothes late Sunday night at the Northwest Correctional Complex near Tiptonville, Tennessee. He then walked to a nearby farm and stole a truck, which he abandoned Tuesday behind a strip mall in Marion, roughly 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the prison.
Marion Police Chief David Fitts said Wednesday that authorities have received no credible tips that Morley remained in the Marion area. There have also been no reports of other vehicles going missing in the city since Tuesday. Police are still trying to establish where he went after leaving the truck. Morley is white, 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and weighs 240 pounds (109 kilograms), with brown hair and green eyes.
Morley is serving a life sentence for the 2022 killing of co-worker Cody Birchfield. Birchfield's body was found in a box under Morley's home after he had been missing for a few weeks. The two men lived in Carter County, in eastern Tennessee.
The escape follows the failed execution of Pike last month, after which Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation following less than three years in the job. State Sen. Tom Hatcher, a Republican from Blount County, said the departure could not come soon enough. "We need new leadership," he said, adding that lawmakers are doing oversight work behind the scenes on several prisons while waiting to learn who the next governor and commissioner will be.
Hatcher chairs a legislative subcommittee examining the prison system. He said understaffing is a major problem and noted that Strada skipped the last oversight meeting, held days before Pike's execution date. At a subcommittee hearing, prison officials reported 470 open positions in a workforce of 6,000. They also warned that a 2022 law requiring inmates to serve more of their sentences was raising prison populations and could cause overcrowding. Hatcher also criticized leadership for a lack of transparency and for resisting oversight even as problems repeat. A prison spokesperson said the agency was not commenting at this time.
The Northwest Correctional Complex has seen several violent attacks in recent years, among inmates and involving employees. District Attorney Danny H. Goodman Jr. is overseeing 19 cases stemming from indictments handed up this summer. They include five inmates killed behind bars and assaults on staff and inmates, with former prison employees charged with aggravated assault among those named in 50 indictments. Goodman said there is no evidence Morley was involved in any of those attacks.
Goodman said staffing at the isolated prison, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Memphis, has been a serious concern. "There is a huge shortage of staff there," he said, adding that employees often must work double shifts. He suspects understaffing may have contributed to the escape or the violence but said he has no proof. There is no evidence so far that anyone helped Morley escape, though the investigation is ongoing.
