Carlton Bailey, 40, of Highland Park was convicted Tuesday of an escape attempt from the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center last May, where he was being held pending sentencing on another conviction. With this new sentence, Mr. Bailey now faces up to 15 years in a New Jersey state prison, in addition to his previous sentence. It was not clear where in the borough Mr. Bailey had resided or whether he had relatives still living in the community.
It took a jury two and a half hours to convict Mr. Bailey of the charges brought against him by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, including attempted escape, possession of escape implements and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Mr. Bailey could be eligible for parole from the escape conviction after serving seven and a half years. He appears before State Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas for sentencing on Jan. 30, 2015.
During a trial, Assistant Prosecutor Tzvi Dolinger told jurors that while Mr. Bailey was being held at the corrections center, he was using screws to scrape apart the frame of the window in his cell so he could break it open and escape. He covered his progress every night with a fresh coat of matching paint. A search also recovered a screw hidden in his sock.
Mr. Bailey’s efforts were thwarted following an investigation by Sgt. Paul DeAmicis and Investigator Kino Francis, both of the Middlesex County Department of Corrections Special Investigations Unit; and by Sgt. Michael Daniewicz and Sgt. Adrian Villegas, both of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.