Man gets 40 year jail sentence after escaping just before end of serving 7-year prison term
Topics: US News, Crime, True crime, Police
Dominic Smithers
Featured Image Credit: Mississippi Department of Corrections
Topics: US News, Crime, True crime, Police
A man was sentenced to 40 years behind bars after escaping from prison.
Shunekndrick Huffman was set to be released from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in August last year when he decided to escape.
At the time, he was just four months away from being let out following a seven-year sentence for aggravated assault, which dated back to 2019.
After ditching the prison walls, the 21-year-old broke into a property and held three people - a parent and two daughters - at gunpoint.
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Huffman then stole their car and took off before crashing and fleeing the scene on foot, running towards the Mississippi State Hospital campus.
He was eventually arrested by police after being found hiding inside a bin.
After pleading guilty to two counts of kidnapping, Huffman was sentenced to four decades in prison.
In a statement, Madison and Rankin Counties’ District Attorney, Bubba Bramlett, praised the work of the officers involved in apprehending the convict.
He said: “The excellent and efficient work and cooperation of MDOC officials, state officials, the Pearl Police Department, Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, and other agencies involved in this tense manhunt led to the successful apprehension of this escaped convict."
Following the escape, the head of the correctional facility, Burl Cain, said improvements were being made to its security systems.
Cain apologised for the fact the sirens that should have gone off to alert staff to the breakout failed to do so.
Speaking last year, he said: “We are very sorry because the local community is a valuable resource for us.
"We are immediately correcting the situation with the siren and actively investigating the events surrounding the escape.
"I want to thank everyone for helping us get this escapee back in custody so quickly."
Sadly, prison breaks aren't anything new, with some so bizarre you wouldn't take them seriously if they were straight from a movie.
Take Richard Lee McNair, for example.
No stranger to the US prison service, McNair had served time for murder and burglary, attempting several times to escape from custody and prison.
His most infamous attempt, however, came in 2006, when he managed to give officers the slip while out on yard work at the United States Penitentiary in Pollock, Louisiana.
McNair had constructed an 'escape pod' with a breathing tube and hid beneath a pile of mailbags.
When the repaired mailbags were delivered to an outside warehouse, McNair cut himself free and ran for freedom.
Yep, he literally mailed himself out of prison.
Hours after his escape, McNair was pulled over by Officer Carl Bordelon as he was running along a railway track.
Although McNair accidentally gave two different names to the officer - Robert Jones and Jimmy Jones - he still managed to sweet talk the cop into letting him go.
He convinced Bordelon that he was out for a jog and was in town to help with some post-Hurricane Katrina repair work.
McNair was eventually recaptured in October 2007, having made it to Canada.