Cameron Brown, 48, a gang member and a frequent visitor to prison, was previously incarcerated mostly for brawling and drug trafficking. This time, however, he was sent to a medium-security prison for accidentally killing someone during a gang fight. After being wanted by the police, he was arrested and sentenced to 20 years.

Prisons in the United States are really full of talent; the fact that people like him could frequently be released on bail or parole is beyond belief.

Warden Valen led the three of them to the prison's surveillance center, which had been temporarily requisitioned. Aside from the two correctional officers, there was also one police officer. The escape had been discovered that morning, and the search had actually already begun. However, since the FBI was coming from a distance, they arrived late and needed to go over the situation again.

At the warden's request, the surveillance center's correctional officer replayed last night's footage.

Mahong looked at the surveillance feed, "This is the footage of them returning to their cell last night. You can see that they entered their cell as usual."

The footage switched, "This is what we saw this morning after the lights came on. Due to the angle of the camera, we can only see a little bit of the foot of the bed. It looks like someone was lying in bed with a blanket over them. But in fact, these are intentional wrinkles they created. They used pillows and other items to mimic a human shape on the bed."

The correctional officer turned to look at Mahong and his group: "We have reviewed hours of surveillance from last night, and no inmates appeared in the corridor. They actually escaped through a square hole they dug out of the wall at the head of the bed in their cell."

Mahong: "Take us to the cell to have a look."

One correctional officer stood up and led Mahong and the others to the cell. Warden Valen didn't leave either but followed them to the cell.

The two inmates were in the same cell, located on the third floor. The cells are tight, and although they were supposed to be single occupancy by principle, due to the large number of inmates, some cells had been converted into double cells.

From the doorway, the cell appeared to have no issues. Guided by the correctional officer, they saw a square hole in the wall inside by the bed. The hole was supposed to be for the air vent, which was fixed to the wall, but the protective grate had been removed and placed aside.

Jimmy had discovered this hole earlier. The wall behind this cell wasn't thick, and there was a passageway a few dozen centimeters wide behind it. Judging from the shadows of the equipment in the passageway, it was likely a pipeline path.

Correctional officer: "This is the air vent through which they escaped. It's 60 centimeters wide by 30 centimeters high. The protective grate, made of steel bars, was fixed to the wall, but they somehow managed to reach through the grate and undo the screws from behind, removing the whole grate."

Mahong crouched down at the air vent to take a closer look, then lay down on the floor and stuck his head into the vent to look inside.

Mahong: "Inside is a maintenance passage for the pipelines. Where does this corridor lead?"

Warden Valen: "It's the maintenance passage for the entire wall's pipelines, interconnected left and right. We checked this morning, and they escaped through this maintenance passage down to the prison's basement. There they found a wall, which they breached a hole through, and also broke through a sewage pipe to get into the sewage system."

Mahong: "Later, take us to see it. Let's first examine this cell."

Warden Valen nodded in agreement. Mahong took out a pair of disposable gloves from his pocket and put them on. Jimmy and Philicia did the same and began examining the cell's interior.

This is a prison, not a hotel, so there were no suitcases or anything similar. The personal belongings of the two inmates were placed at the head of their beds, but it was clear they had already organized their things. Now, besides the normal bedding, there were only items like playing cards and paper and pens.

On the washstand, the toiletries were mostly there, but a toothbrush and a bar of soap were missing.

Philicia took notes of all the findings in her notebook, then used two sealable bags to pack up the paper and pens from the bedside, and they left the cell. They entered the maintenance corridor from outside the cell. Here, a grate had been opened, leading to the second-floor maintenance passage. Moreover, right beside the grate's position, there was a steel pipe that went straight down to the first floor, which could be used as a handrail to climb down safely and quietly. It was really frustrating.

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