Pubdate: Fri, 18 Nov 2005
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051118/NEWS01/511180372/1001/NEWS
Copyright: 2005 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: William Petroski, Register Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

MOON ONCE PLOTTED TO FLEE OSCEOLA JAIL

Martin Moon, an Iowa prison escapee captured Thursday in Illinois, 
cleverly planned an escape from the Clarke County Jail five years 
ago, but his bid was foiled, Sheriff Mark Addison said.

Moon was held in the old county jail in Osceola from December 1999 to 
June 2000 while awaiting trial on murder charges. He was a quiet, 
studious inmate who didn't draw attention to himself, Addison said.

Moon had his girlfriend send him a care package with saw blades 
hidden inside the foam soles of a pair of slippers, the sheriff said. 
He then cut into a lock in the jail's day room and stopped cutting 
when it could be broken with a good kick. Moon camouflaged the vacant 
space on the lock by filling it in with toothpaste.

The escape was averted when a fellow inmate informed jailers, Addison 
said. Authorities found civilian clothes stuffed into a vent in 
Moon's cell, and they discovered $300 in cash taped on his body.

Moon's girlfriend, Kimberly Mitchell, was arrested in Chattanooga, 
Tenn., where she lived, and was charged with assisting with the 
escape attempt, Addison said. But she fled after posting bond, and 
authorities haven't seen her since.

Addison said he hopes Iowa authorities investigate the possibility 
Mitchell may have helped Moon's escape Monday night from penitentiary 
at Fort Madison.

Addison said he was intrigued by the details of the Fort Madison 
escape, particularly how Moon and another inmate climbed atop the 
roofs of prison buildings before they scaled a prison wall. "It 
reminds me of the movie 'Escape from Alcatraz' with Clint Eastwood," he said.