COLUMBIA — A man serving a life sentence for kidnapping a high-profile defense attorney and his family in 2002 has escaped a maximum-security South Carolina prison for the second time, this time from Lieber Correctional Institution.Â
Jimmy Causey, 46, of Hopkins is serving a life sentence for kidnapping Columbia attorney Jack Swerling, his wife and daughter in their Columbia home. Swerling had previously defended Causey on two occasions.Â
As of 1:55 p.m. Wednesday, Causey could not be located at Lieber in Ridgeville, S.C. Department of Corrections officials said.
Causey is described as being of medium build with brown hair and blue eyes. He weighs 177 pounds and is 6-foot-2.
The Dorchester County Sheriff's Office is assisting in the search for Causey, whom they call "extremely dangerous."Â
Sheriff L.C. Knight urged residents to "remain vigilant, keep vehicles and homes secured and report all suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities."
Causey escaped in 2005 with fellow inmate Johnny Brewer from Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia by hiding in a dumpster that was carried off prison grounds in a trash truck. The pair used toilet-paper heads made by other prisoners and put them in their beds to trick officers.
They were caught at a motel in Ridgeland along Interstate 95 — about 100 miles away from Broad River — after a three-day manhunt. A woman called police after she recognized the men when delivering pizza to the motel.
Brewer, a convicted murderer also serving a life sentence, killed himself while at Kirkland Correctional Institution two years later.
When being questioned later by state lawmakers about how the escape happened, then-prisons Director Jon Ozmint blamed budget cutbacks that had forced the department to cut 800 security positions, leaving some areas like the trash compactor and loading dock unmonitored by officers.
The agency continues to struggle with staffing shortages, pointing to a nearly 30 percent vacancy rate in March as a contributing factor in the quadruple murder of inmates at Kirkland in April.
Among prison staff, the vacancy rate has more than doubled at the state's correctional institutions in the past five years. As of March, almost 30 percent of positions were vacant.Â
Sharpe said the Wednesday incident is still under investigation so the department could not say whether the escape was caused by understaffing. She said they also did not yet have information about how Causey got out of Lieber.
Causey first served time in state prison in 1992 after being convicted on charges including grand larceny, breaking into a motor vehicle and failure to stop for an officer, according to online Corrections Department records.
Swerling twice got Causey reduced sentences when he was his lawyer in the early 1990s. Testimony during the kidnapping trial in 2004 revealed Causey held a grudge about going to prison at all.
Swerling testified at the time that Causey and Charles Wilson used duct tape to restrain Swerling, his wife and his daughter and held them at gunpoint while demanding money.Â
This is the second escape from a maximum-security prison in less than a year.
In December, another inmate serving a life sentence escaped from a different maximum-security prison in South Carolina. Authorities said 47-year-old Michael Allen Williamson stabbed a police officer during his escape from McCormick Correctional Institution. The officer's protective vest deflected many blows, but she was treated for two stab wounds to her arm and shoulder.Â
Sharpe said the department has not attributed Williamson's escape to staffing shortages.
Prior to that, there were no reported escapes at maximum-security facilities since one in the 2009 fiscal year, according to Corrections Department spokeswoman Sommer Sharpe. There were seven escapes at the maximum-security prisons in fiscal years 1992 and 1993.
Anyone with information about Causey's location is asked to call 877-349-2130.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.Â
