LANCASTER : 4 Prison Guards Fired, 5th Suspended Over Escape

Four guards have been fired and a fifth was suspended for 30 days for allowing a convicted murderer to escape from the new state prison in Lancaster in October, Interim Warden John Ratelle said Wednesday.

Ratelle said he took action against the officers in late May but did not make it public until a meeting of the prison’s citizens advisory committee.

Committee members said they were pleased to hear about the punishment. The Oct. 6 escape triggered a citywide outcry concerning security at the prison, which opened in February, 1993.

Inmate Eric Rene Johnson, 23, climbed over an eight-foot block wall and two 12-foot chain-link fences, all topped with razor wire, to make his escape. He was recaptured five hours later outside a convenience store in Lancaster, several miles from the prison.