Inmate Attempts Escape Over Fence

An inmate at the Airway Heights Corrections Center tried to escape Thursday night by climbing a 12-foot-high fence topped with razor wire, officials said.

John L. Gemmill, 29, was captured after correctional officers spotted the would-be breakout on security cameras at 6:30 p.m., said prison spokesman Cly Evans.

Evans said Gemmill climbed the fence by throwing his jacket over the razor wire.

When he saw officers approaching, he climbed down and tried to “get lost among the other prisoners,” Evans said.

In order to escape, Gemmill would have had to scale a second security fence without being detected.

Gemmill, convicted of first-degree robbery last year in Spokane, had been scheduled for release in December 1998, Evans said.

, DataTimes