An inmate at a prison in Auburn, New York, says he was asked to repair locks at the facility before he tried to escape in a pile of sawdust in 2015.
Gordon “Woody” Mower said he was tasked with fixing locks at Auburn correctional facility after the facility’s locksmith retired in 2014.
“We’re not supposed to have anything to do with locks,” Mower told Syracuse.com. “It’s supposed to be top secret to inmates how locks work.”
Director of Public Information for the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), Thomas Mailey, said in an emailed statement that Mower did indeed work in the facility’s metal shop where he made and repaired parts “for various items within the facility.”
“While an initial investigation indicates inmate Mower lacked access to functional locks, the Department’s Office of Special Investigations has opened an investigation to confirm this finding.”
Mower told Syracuse that the locks were so old, replacement parts were not sold anymore so he had to make them in the prison’s metal shop. He said he would sometimes fix seven locks in a day.
