US prison finds a new way to deter would-be escapees: a bear

The way the warden sees it, the 180-kilogram black bear living in the middle of the sprawling Louisiana State Penitentiary is an extra layer of security.
“I love that bear being right where it is,” Warden Burl Cain said. “I tell you what, none of our inmates are going to try to get out after dark and wander around when they might run into a big old bear. It’s like having another guard at no cost to the taxpayer.”The bear was first seen by an inmate crossing a road in the prison earlier this month. It was taking a stroll near the center of the maximum security prison. Most of the 73-square-kilometer prison is run as a farm, but about 14km2 is piney woods.Prison workers measured the bear’s footprints, which were 15cm in diameter.“The wildlife people told us they think it’s a big female they’ve been tracking for a while,” Cain said.Maria Davidson, manager of the Large Carnivore Program for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, marvels that a bear was spotted in an area of high activity such as the center of the prison.“Bears are actually very shy, their tendency is to run and hide,” Davidson said.As for acting as an unpaid prison guard, Davidson doubts that the bear would provide much of a deterrent to a fleeing prisoner.“We’ve never had a predatory attack by a black bear in Louisiana, to our knowledge, on pets or livestock,” she said. “As for a bear coming out and rushing an inmate, I don’t see that happening.”The prison is isolated and has plenty of other kinds of dangerous wildlife, including alligators, rattlesnakes and wild pigs, said Gary Young, head of the executive management office at the prison. The last recorded escape was nearly three years ago, and the inmate was quickly recaptured before leaving the grounds.(AP)