Guard inattention led to Knox County Jail escape

ROCKLAND – A corrections officer was reading documents when inmate Steven E. Clarke escaped from a second floor holding cell at Knox County Courthouse on Feb. 26, Sheriff Daniel Davey said Wednesday.

Clarke, 38, fled the holding cell, located behind the Superior Court room, bound at the legs by shackles and wearing a yellow Knox County Jail uniform. He was captured two days later at a North Main Street residence.

On Tuesday, Maj. Richard Robbins, jail administrator, said that the holding cell door was left unlocked while Clarke’s attorney met with him. When the lawyer left, one transport guard had gone to the men’s room, while another stayed behind, Davey said. In the meantime, Waldoboro lawyer Andrews Campbell left and the door was not secured.

The officer watching over the holding cell was reading documents when Clarke escaped, according to Davey.

It is too early to determine if there will be disciplinary action, he said. Robbins was on vacation in Florida at the time of the escape, he said Wednesday, and he dictated questions over the telephone to staff to begin gathering information for an investigation.

“The entire event is under review,” Robbins said.

Supplemental investigation reports are still coming in, he said, as well as answers to why a more senior officer was sent on another low-security transport and not to assist with Clarke.

According to Davey, Clarke has a history that includes an escape conviction, which corrections officers knew about. The guards had not been made aware of an incident the day before the Feb. 26 escape, which involved Clarke damaging his cell.

“This should have been passed down,” Davey said.

Also, in December 1995, Clarke punched a guard in the left eye while at the courthouse and had to be wrestled into submission by other officers.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Clarke for escape in connection with the most recent incident.

When Clarke was captured, another man, Josh Drinkwater, 18, of Rockland, was arrested in connection with Clarke’s seizure. Drinkwater was charged with hindering apprehension.

The day of the escape, Clarke was in Superior Court for a bail hearing. His bail for a Jan. 28 arrest – for assault, terrorizing, criminal trespass and a violation of conditions of release, stemming from a domestic dispute – was $75,000 surety. Clarke now is being held without bail.