Inmate says he planned to escape prison in box, buried in sawdust
AUBURN, N.Y. -- A man who killed his parents two decades ago says he hatched a plan to escape a maximum-security prison in New York by burying himself alive in a coffin-like box, hidden under tons of sawdust.
Gordon "Woody" Mower told The Post-Standard of Syracuse that he practiced the escape repeatedly at Auburn Correctional Facility two years ago.
The plan involved hiding in a bottomless wooden box in a big mound of sawdust from the prison's woodshop that is hauled away periodically by a local farmer.
Mower says the plot failed in 2015 when another inmate tipped off guards.
The newspaper reports the planned escape is confirmed by prison records sent to Mower's lawyers.
There was no response Monday from state prison officials on Mower's story.
