Texas Prisoners Break out of Cell to Save Jail Guard

On June 23rd, a jail guard working for the district court in Parker County, Texas, was making his routine rounds and joking with several of the inmates, when he suddenly collapsed. At first the inmates thought that he might be messing with them, but it quickly became apparent that something was wrong.

After shouting for help to no avail, the inmates decided to take a serious risk to help the guard. They busted through the holding cell door and went to see what was wrong, and found that the guard had no pulse. He had just suffered a heart attack.

Obviously, if the guards came and saw a bunch of sprung inmates and an unconscious guard, the situation could have ended badly, and it almost did. One of the inmates later explained that “We were worried they’re going to come with guns drawn on us.” They finally managed to make enough noise to get the attention of the other guards, who arrived just as one of the inmates was reaching for the guard’s radio to call for help. It was situated near his pistol.

Fortunately the guards didn’t overact. They simply corralled the inmates back into their cell and started giving the unresponsive guard CPR until the paramedics arrived. He was eventually resuscitated, and is expected to go back to work next week. One of the prison guards admitted that if it weren’t for the actions of the inmates, the man would have died. “He could have been there 15 minutes before any other staff walked in and found him.”