By Nick Beres
CANNON COUNTY, Tenn.- Two Cannon County jail escapees are now back in custody, and in an exclusive interview from behind bars, they talk about how and why they did it.
"I'm looking at 25 years. I needed to try to get my freedom. I'm looking at 25 years. That's a long time to be away. I was thinking about the free world," said attempted murder suspect James Hill.
Hill and accused drug user Aubrey Sanders said they used their hands to bend the cyclone fence wire in a courtyard back and forth until it broke. The two then squeezed out of a small hole to escape.
"I'd been working on it for a couple of days. Thinking, thinking, thinking and then I got a chance to do it and took it," said Hill.
Sanders said they didn't have much of a plan after they escaped. They said they roamed the town of Woodbury hoping to find a ride.
"Just basically back tracked back and forth," said Sanders.
Deputies caught up with them in Woodbury late Wednesday night.
Cannon County Sheriff Darrell Young is embarrassed by the escape and hopes some good now comes of it.
"This -- it's unfortunate that it happened, but it couldn't have happened at a better time," said Young.
The sheriff said the jail desperately needs more resources. He said he's so short staffed that only two guards monitor more than 80 inmates at any given time. And it's dangerous since dozens of shanks and other homemade weapons are confiscated every month.
"Our officers get threatened every day here," say Young.
He also said the old security camera in the courtyard where the inmates escaped is broken, so no one saw them slip through the fence.
Young knows money is tight, but will be asking county commissioners this month to approve a budget for two additional deputies. He also hopes to get more resources to fix old broken equipment.
Hill and Sanders both now face an additional five years behind bars for the jail escape. A woman was also arrested and charged with helping the two men after they escaped.
James Hill
Aubrey Sanders
Sheriff shows where inmates escaped.
