Design flaw allowed inmates to leave cells

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Terre Haute - Workers are altering part of the Vigo County jail to fix a design flaw that allowed inmates to crawl through the ceiling to visit other cells.

Eight pods in the 7-year-old addition to the original jail are getting sturdier ceiling panels to prevent excursions by inmates under a settlement with the original architect.

Sheriff Jon Marvel says the $500,000 ceiling upgrade should be complete by early December.
He says the design flaw allowed inmates in a top bunk to kick and bend perforated metal ceiling panels, stripping out screws so they could lift the panel.

Once a panel was lifted far enough, inmates could slip through the gap and roam around in the space above the cells to visit other inmates.

(Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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