Authorities: Inmate who escaped from prison had likely done so before

When a convicted murderer climbed over the chain-link fence at an Anson County prison last week, it probably wasn’t the first time.

Kristopher McNeil had apparently escaped on other occasions from Brown Creek Correctional Institution to meet with a female prison worker, said Polkton Police Chief Matthew Norris. McNeil appeared to be doing the same thing this time, Norris said.

McNeil was one of 70 inmates to escape North Carolina prisons since 2010, according to records provided by the Department of Public Safety. All except one were captured. Like McNeil, nearly three-quarters of the inmates were caught within two days.

Kendra Lynette Miller, 33, a food service officer at Brown Creek, has been accused of having sex with McNeil and helping him escape from the minimum security unit.

Dozens of times a year, the state fires prison officers for offenses that range from sleeping on the job to smuggling contraband. In more than 35 cases since 2012, the state has dismissed staffers for having inappropriate relationships with inmates, the Observer found.

McNeil, who is serving a 14-year sentence for second-degree murder, had been scheduled to be released in 2018. He was discovered missing just before midnight Friday. That’s when prison officials received an anonymous note from an inmate, saying they needed to check on him, Norris said.

“Based on statements we have received, this is not the first time he went out,” Norris said. “He just basically went over the fence and (Miller) was waiting for him.”

The police chief said McNeil might have intended to return to the prison after meeting the worker. But once outside, he likely discovered that authorities were looking for him and ran, Norris said.

McNeil, 29, was captured just before 11 p.m. Sunday walking along a road near the Davidson/Forsyth county line, about 80 miles north of the prison.

“Based on what we know, he did not go out with the intent to leave and stay gone,” Norris said. “However, he got caught.”

Brown Creek’s minimum security unit is surrounded by a 10-foot to 12-foot chain link fence topped with razor wire, said Jack Clelland, an assistant superintendent at the prison.

Pamela Walker, a spokeswoman for the Public Safety Department, said she could not comment on whether McNeil had previously escaped because the incident is still under investigation.

Miller, who began working at Brown Creek in January, has been charged with having sex with an inmate, providing a phone to an inmate, harboring a fugitive and aiding and abetting a fugitive. She was dismissed on Monday.

Located in Polkton, about 45 miles southeast of Charlotte, Brown Creek houses about 1,200 medium- and minimum-custody inmates. It sits next to Lanesboro Correctional Institution, a high-security prison that has generated controversy.

A video taken inside Lanesboro shows prison officials gesturing to suspects in an inmate’s 2012 murder to keep their mouths shut after the killing, attorneys who represented one of the suspects said. Lawyers say the footage suggests prison officials might have sanctioned the attack or looked the other way.

And a federal lawsuit, filed last year by five former Lanesboro inmates, alleges that correctional officers helped gang members attack other inmates.

Staff writers Langston Taylor and Gavin Off contributed.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 10:32 AM with the headline "Authorities: Inmate who escaped from prison had likely done so before."