Reward offered for SC maximum-security prison escapee

State officials announced Thursday that a reward is being offered for information leading to the capture of a state prisoner who escaped from one of the state’s maximum-security prisons.

It’s the second time Jimmy Causey, 46, has broken out of prison.

How he escaped remains under investigation, said Sommer Sharpe, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Corrections. Apprehension efforts are still continuing.

Causey was serving a life sentence at Lieber Correctional Institution in Dorchester County for kidnapping, armed robbery and first-degree burglary charges out of Richland County, in addition to other crimes at when he escaped Wednesday, Sharpe said.

“This is a very dangerous individual,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. “We are operating on the assumption he may be headed this way, but there’s no telling where he will go.”

Officials are asking no one approach Causey if he is spotted and to instead call 911. Anyone with information about his whereabouts asked to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 888-CRIME-SC.

Causey has escaped from custody before. In 2005, while serving time at Broad River Correctional Institution, Causey hid in a dumpster that was carried off by a trash truck. An inmate had helped him dupe correctional officers by making dummies out of clothes and toilet paper.

With a different inmate, Causey rode the trash truck until they jumped off on Percival Road. They dumped their clothes and got a ride to the Leesburg Road exit on Interstate 77. That’s where Causey’s ex-girlfriend spotted him, and called her father, who reported the men to Corrections.

Causey and the second inmate were caught two days later at a Jasper County hotel after a pizza delivery woman recognized them and called police.

Judie Trainer, who was the manager of the store that delivered the convicts’ pizza, recounted her experience in a telephone interview with The New York Times late Wednesday. She told the Times that when she arrived at the convicts’ motel room, the customers told her to put the pizza on a table and pick up their money, orders apparently meant to help the pair avoid being seen.

The way the bizarre delivery had unfolded made Trainer uneasy, and she told her husband, who informed a law enforcement officer, according to the Times.

Causey’s criminal history is nearly eight pages long and goes back to just after he turned 19, according to the State Law Enforcement Division. In addition to convictions in 1989 for burglary, grand larceny and receiving stolen goods, it includes convictions on similar charges in 1990 and 1991 and a rash of misdemeanor arrests throughout the 90s.

The first time, Causey faced up to 15 years for burglary, grand larceny and auto break-in charges. Swerling arranged a "youthful offender" sentence that allowed Causey to serve less than a year in jail, according to archives.

After Causey’s second burglary charge, Swerling was able to get prosecutors to agree to a conviction for nonviolent burglary. Not only did that allow Causey to be eligible for parole much sooner, it kept him from having a conviction for a violent offense.

In 2003, Causey was convicted of eight violent "most serious" offenses in a holdup of a bank near the entrance of the subdivision where Swerling lives, according to Causey's record. That crime occurred about three months after the Swerling break-in.

State law allows prosecutors to seek a life-without-parole sentence when a defendant has a prior "most serious" offense.

State Sen. Karl Allen, D-Greenville, who sits on the Senate Corrections and Penology committee, said there are “not a whole lot of excuses” for a maximum-security inmate like Causey to escape twice.

“Once you have escaped and you are the custody level of this guy, it is a bad reflection that he's allowed to escape again,” Allen said. “Because at some point, the public begins to fear that this person and the victim begins to fear that this person has the keys to their own cell.”

The Department of Corrections deserves some credit for not having any inmates escape from maximum-security facilities since 2010, Allen said. Still, after a thorough investigation, the department and legislature need to review corrections policies and the implementation of those policies, he said.

This story was originally published July 6, 2017 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Reward offered for SC maximum-security prison escapee."