US Prison Finds Something New to Deter Escapes
US Prison Now Using a Bear to Guard Against Escapes
The way the warden sees it, the more than 400-pound 180-kilogram black bear living in the middle of the sprawling Louisiana State Penitentiary is an extra layer of security.
“I love that bear being right where it is,” Warden Burl Cain said Monday. “I tell you what, none of our inmates are going to try to get out after dark and wander around when they might run into a big old bear. It’s like having another guard at no cost to the taxpayer.”
The bear was first seen by an inmate crossing a road in the prison on Friday. It was taking a stroll near the center of the state’s only maximum security prison, which is about 115 miles 185 kilometers northwest of New Orleans. Most of the roughly 28-square-mile 73-square-kilometer prison is run as a farm, but about 5.5 square miles 14 square kilometers is mostly untouched piney woods.
Prison workers measured the bear’s footprints, which were 6 inches 15 centimeters in diameter, Cain said.
“Every inch equals 75 pounds, so that would make it about 450 pounds,” Cain said. “The wildlife people told us they think it’s a big female they’ve been tracking for a while.”
Prison officials believe they have eight to 10 bears on the grounds, said Gary Young, head of the executive management office at the prison.
Maria Davidson, manager of the Large Carnivore Program for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, doubts there are that many, but marvels that even one was spotted in an area of high activity such as the center of the prison.
US Prison Finds Something New to Deter Escapes - a Bear Living on the Grounds - News
