Four inmates escape Alabama jail, prompting statewide search
Four Dallas County inmates escaped a Perry County reentry center after a fake medical emergency, exposing staffing and security failures as two remained missing.
Two fugitives were back in custody and two more remained on the run after four Dallas County inmates escaped from a Perry County reentry center in Uniontown, exposing failures that went beyond a single break for freedom.
The men, identified as Marquavious Billingsley, Jaden Christopher Maxwell, Johnny Dave Harris Bush Jr. and Kevin Gunn, got out of the Perry County Correctional PREP Center at about 1 a.m. on Saturday, May 30. Authorities said the inmates were being housed there under an agreement with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department and were facing charges that included murder, first-degree robbery, breaking and entering vehicles, first-degree escape, first-degree assault and promoting prison contraband. Perry County Sheriff Roy Fikes said deputies and assisting agencies were still searching and that an investigation was underway.
New details pointed to a coordinated plan rather than a sudden breach. Dallas County Sheriff Mike Granthum said one inmate faked a medical emergency, prompting detention officers to enter the cell before the men forced their way past two officers, exited through a door and climbed over three fences. Granthum said the escape involved a waiting getaway car and outside help, and that the driver had been arrested. Surveillance video reportedly captured the breakout, a sign that investigators already had a timeline and a sequence of failures to examine.
By Sunday, Johnny Dave Harris Bush Jr. had been arrested in Midfield after police were alerted by the Flock camera system to a stolen 2012 Acura that had been reported stolen in Selma. Midfield police charged him with receiving stolen property, held him in the Jefferson County Jail and said he was expected to be extradited to Perry County. Later that night, Jaden Christopher Maxwell surrendered to authorities, according to Fourth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Robert Turner. Kevin Gunn and Marquavious Billingsley remained at large.
The escape has drawn scrutiny because the facility is not a traditional county jail. The Perry County Correctional PREP Center, which opened in 2022, is a 90-day residential reentry program for high-risk parolees and was designed to help reduce recidivism. Alabama officials have said it can serve up to 250 male participants a year, and state figures showed 270 people graduated from PREP-related programming in 2024, with 51 participants completing mental health, substance-use and job-training programs in a 90-day period.
The breakdown also comes against a backdrop of infrastructure strain in Perry County. The Dallas County Jail has been closed since an EF-2 tornado struck Selma in January 2023, forcing some inmates to be housed elsewhere. A separate 2025 escape at the Perry County Jail in Marion damaged that facility and contributed to repair delays and broader safety concerns. For nearby communities, the latest manhunt underscored the risk that comes when housing agreements, aging facilities and thin security protocols collide.
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