Officials in Cocke county Tennessee are scratching their heads after more than a dozen inmates escaped from the Cocke County Regional Prison on Friday.

The prison, one of the newest in the country, was completed in 2003 after more than a decade of planning and building. Inmates began arriving in early 2004 after an issue with the sewage system was corrected.

The prison was held up to legislators across the country as a model of ingenuity. It was the first prison construction project to harness the labor of prisoners from other areas to do the building.

“About 96% of the labor in this prison was done by prisoners,” Ray Tandall, the administrator of CCRP, said. “We saved about $40 million in construction costs, which allowed us to invest in state-of-the-art security equipment.”

CCRP installed over 500 high-tech security cameras, sensors, and electronic locks in the prison. All of the wiring and installation of the system was also completed by prisoners.

“We just don’t know what happened to them,” a guard who wishes to remain anonymous said on Friday. “They just vanished in the night. When the morning shift went in, all the doors were open and they weren’t anywhere in sight. It’s a complete mystery.”

Authorities are combing the area and have been telephoning family members of the inmates to ask if they have seen any of the escapees. So far, no family members or friends have reported sighting any of them.

“We’ll sure give the sheriff a call if we see him,” Trudy Smiley, the wife of escapee Rex Smiley, said on Monday.

Staff Reporter — bs