Columbia police have captured an inmate who allegedly escaped from the Howard County jail using a cardboard toilet paper holder. Curtis Jones of New Franklin was captured Wednesday afternoon.
Columbia police officers, who were responding to a tip, went to where Jones was believed to be located, but he had fled on foot. Jones was spotted a short time later and taken into custody.
Jones had escaped early Monday. Authorities allege he used the folded cardboard to jam a door lock to his cell and fled when a jailer went to another area in the building.
Jones was detained on a theft charge on suspicion of stealing anhydrous ammonia, a chemical used to manufacture methamphetamine.
He previously escaped in 1996 from the county's old jail in Fayette by climbing through a hole in the ceiling.
