Raymond Taylor, imprisoned on three consecutive life terms for trying to kill his ex-girlfriend and her two children, scammed his way out of prison by posing as another inmate. Prison authorities inisist Taylor as a striking resemblance to William Johnson. (Taylor is at left, Johnson on the right)
Here are the two mug shots. You decide. The officials say they are about the same height, same build, same complexion and roughly the same age. Taylor had longer hair, but they said he was wearing a hat. Both had goatees.
So many questions still remain. If the escape was how officials say (he was arrested in West Virginia on Friday), then how on earth did Taylor, awaiting transport to a courthouse in Southern Maryland so he could press a civil claim, convince Johnson, who was hours away from his own freedom after serving two years for burglary, to switch IDs? And then, how did corrections officers fail to notice that the picture on Taylor's ID card wasn't him, despite three checks? Apparently, the only thing they do is compare faces and make sure the inmate can recite his prison ID number. Maybe some more checks are in order.
And more broadly, the case raises questions about why prisoners need to be transported all over the state for court cases. Taylor wasn't being driven 256 miles from his Cumberland prison cell to Princess Anne for a criminal case, but rather because he had sued a woman over what he claimed was her failure to pay him $685 for Shrek drawings meant to be sold at a flea market.
Should inmates be allowed to file civil suits like this and then be transported at our expense to courtrooms around the state? State officials cannot decide which lawsuit has merit and which one doesn't, and they must transport based on judge's orders.
But each time a prisoner is moved, and house overnight on a stop-over in Baltimore, it increases the chances that something will go wrong, or human error will aid in a mistaken release or escape.
Anyway, at above left is one of the court papers Taylor filed and his drawing (looks more like a tracing to me) of Shrek, contained in the court files in Somerset County District Court. I apologize for it being some small (and unreadable, in the case of the court file) but it gives you some idea of the drawing at the heart of the case.