Scott County corrections officer fired after inmate’s hospital escape

FOX23 News at 9 p.m

SCOTT COUNTY, Mo. — A Scott County Jail corrections officer was fired Monday after an internal review found that policy violations contributed to an inmate’s escape from custody, according to Sheriff Derick Wheetley.

The sheriff’s office said the officer failed to properly restrain Kenneth Goeddert while he was receiving treatment at a Cape Girardeau hospital and did not maintain constant visual contact with him.

Goeddert escaped from corrections staff Aug. 31 and fled into a wooded area near the hospital. Law enforcement officers captured him later that day after a Cape Girardeau resident reported seeing him hiding in a tree line near the resident’s backyard.

Goeddert was charged Monday in Cape Girardeau County with escape from custody, a Class E felony. He was being held without bond at the Scott County Jail.

Wheetley thanked the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol, U.S. Marshals Service and residents who assisted in the search.