Two prison guards have been dismissed for breaching the Arkansas Department of Corrections rules after they allowed the escape of an inmate known as the ‘Devil in the Ozarks’ from a high-security prison.

Grant Hardin, a convicted killer and sexual assailant who gained infamy through a television documentary, managed to flee the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25, disguised in a fake law enforcement outfit. 

The 56-year-old ex-police chief was recaptured nearly two weeks later, about a mile away from the prison, and has since been transferred to a supermax facility in Varner.

An internal investigation has since uncovered breaches in protocol that contributed to Hardin’s escape, and two guards were terminated for multiple violations of Department of Corrections conduct standards – including inadequate job performance, inattentiveness on duty and failure to follow supervisor instructions.

They were identified in documents obtained by KATV as Justin Delvalle and William Walker.

The Department of Corrections said Delvalle admitted to allowing Hardin to clean the chemical case on an outside kitchen dock unsupervised, while Walker failed to report an unsupervised inmate on the back dock and opened the gates for Hardin without confirming his identity.

Walker reportedly saw an individual in what he believed to be a uniform – black in color, unlike standard DOC blue uniforms – pushing a cart.

He then failed to maintain a visual surveillance on Hardin after he passed through the gates while security footage captured the former police chief walking out of the prison confidently with no signs of panic, according to the Department of Corrections.

‘All the stars had to line up for Hardin,’ Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness told members of the Legislative Council’s charitable, penal, and correctional institutions subcommittee on Thursday.

‘Two employees violated policy for this to happen. It was human error that allowed this to happen,’ he continued, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.   

‘If either one of them would have been following policy, it wouldn’t have happened.’

Magness also noted that Delvalle was busy at the time he let Hardin leave the kitchen unattended, but should have called his supervisor to ask for another guard to watch over the inmate. 

But it appears guards had become lenient with Hardin, who did not have any disciplinary problems during his time at Calico Rock.  

In an interview with authorities following his capture, Hardin reportedly said officers stopped making him inventory his possessions at the end of a shift in the kitchen.

He then used a marker to color a prison-issue t-shirt black over the course of several month and fashioned a soup can lid and a Bible cover to look like a badge. He also used an old apron to create a patch.

Additionally, he fashioned a ladder out of wooden pallets that were on the kitchen dock, and took peanut butter sandwiches from the prison to survive following his escape.

If the gate had not been opened for him, Hardin planned to use the ladder to scale the fence, according to Dexter Payne, director of the division of correction.

But state lawmakers now say Hardin’s well-planned escape points to systemic problems beyond the two guards – noting that Hardin was able to fashion the fake uniform without any guards noticing.

‘I think we´ve got major issues here that need to be dealt with,’ said Republican Sen. Matt McKee, who co-chairs the subcommittee.

‘There are a lot of things he did unnoticed and unaware,’ added Republican Sen. Ben Gilmore. ‘I don’t think you can blame just two people for that.’

Members of the panel also said Hardin’s escape points to the need to scrutinize a classification system that placed a convicted murderer and rapist in what’s primarily a medium-security facility.

Payne said a critical incident review of the escape planned later this month may determine if other employees will face firings, demotions or disciplinary actions. It also will determine what other policy changes may be needed, he said.

In the meantime, state officials said more security upgrades will be coming – including a possible electronic system that would alert a higher-ranking officer whenever the gates are open.

Additionally, all correctional staff will be retrained to prevent anything like this from happening again. 

Meanwhile, state police are investigating the escape to determine whether any laws, policies or procedures were violated in the escape. Col. Mike Hagar, the head of state police and secretary of public safety, said the final report on the investigation may be completed within 30 days.

Thomas Hurst, warden of the prison -formally called the North Central Unit – said State Police was not notified immediately of the escape though local police were, blaming it on a miscommunication.

‘There´s nobody that´s more embarrassed about (the escape) than me,’ Hurst said. ‘It’s not good. We failed, and I understand it.’

Hardin, though, has pleaded not guilty to an escape charge and is set to go on trial in November.

He is already facing lengthy prison sentences for murder and rape, after being found guilty of shooting James Appleton – a water department employee – in the head on the side of a road in a small town called Gateway. 

Police found the victim’s body inside a car, and a witness identified Hardin as the gunman.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.

But while serving his time, a DNA sample taken in prison linked him to the 1997 rape of an elementary schoolteacher in Rogers.

Hardin pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and rape of Amy Harrison, whom he assaulted at gunpoint in a school bathroom. 

His crimes were later sensationalized in the 2023 HBO documentary the Devil in the Ozarks, which featured interviews with everyone from the victim of the 1997 rape and sisters of the murder family to Hardin’s family. 

It revealed a crucial run-in between Hardin and Appleton in the Spring of 2016 in which Appleton stood up to Hardin about fixing a police car.

‘He was out chasing cars for no reason,’ Cheryl Tillman, Appleton’s heartbroken sister, said. 

‘He was pulling guns on the citizens here in Gateway and then as time went on with him being the police chief things just started going down hill fast.’

Then-Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, who was Appleton’s brother-in-law, also described being on the phone with him when he was shot, and local resident John Bray spoke about driving past Appleton’s car when the shooting happened.

He was the first to find his body and identified Hardin as the shooter.

‘I heard what I thought was someone had fired a rifle,’ he said. ‘I went back and I seen it looked like he had been shot,’ he added, wiping away tears.

The documentary further revealed details about the resentment Hardin felt toward Appleton, as well as depicting accounts of the moments right before and after the murder.

A Benton County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant described several times when they got into each other’s faces and the dislike they both felt toward one another.

The city council gave him an ultimatum: resign or be fired. He stepped down four months after taking the position and nine months later, he killed Appleton.

The documentary also gave insight into his troubled and scattered career. 

He worked at the Fayetteville Police Department from August 1990 to May 1991, but was let go because he did not meet the standards of his training period.

Hardin worked about six months at the Huntsville Police Department before resigning, but records do not give a reason for his resignation, according to Police Chief Todd Thomas, who joined the department after Hardin worked there.

Hardin later worked at the Eureka Springs Police Department from 1993 to 1996. Former Chief Earl Hyatt said Hardin resigned because Hyatt was going to fire him over incidents that included the use of excessive force.