Prison Worker Poisoned by Crafty Inmate in 1893 Honored at 9/11 Memorial

Rep. Earl Poleski, R-Jackson, said during Thursday’s Sept. 11 memorial service at the Michigan House of Representatives that all first responders’ sacrifices should be recognized, “even 121 years later.” (Screenshot: Detroit Free Press video)

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More than 120 years after a Jackson state penitentiary prisoner slipped a deadly concoction of opium and cyanide into his meal, Deputy Corrections Keeper George Haight was recognized Thursday for giving his life in the line of duty and service to the people of Michigan.

Haight was among five people honored during Thursday’s annual Sept. 11 memorial service in the Michigan House of Representatives, the Detroit Free Press reports. Four others honored during the 9/11 ceremony – two police officers, a firefighter and a corrections officer – were killed in the line of duty during the past year.

Rep. Earl Poleski, R-Jackson, read Haight’s name during the ceremony. “All Michigan first responders who make the ultimate sacrifice deserve our gratitude and appreciation, even 121 years later,” he said.

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Haight of Jackson was 66 when he became a casualty in an elaborate escape plan, according to an account on Haight’s Officer Down Memorial Page, a tribute accompanying the etching of his name on the National Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in May 2014.

As the story goes, the inmate tricked a night captain into believing he had a buried treasure in Rhode Island, and offered to share the bounty in exchange for the privilege of roaming freely about the prison at night.

“I was very close to my grandmother and this was her grandpa. So when I discovered the full story of what happened, I wanted to do everything I could to honor him.” – Katy Evans

The prospect of a lucrative payoff was apparently was great enough that the captain allowed the inmate – who was serving a life sentence for poisoning his mother and suspected of doing the same for his father – to order prussic acid (cyanide) from an outside pharmacy.

On the night of the escape, the inmate assisted in the preparation of meals. As the guards ate, they became extremely ill and were unable to move. Haight collapsed, knocking over several plates and causing a ruckus that attracted the attention of one of the guards who hadn’t been poisoned.

The inmate appeared to be helping Haight said that he was dying and dispatched the guard to get help. The guard left, and the inmate took the prison keys and two revolvers from the disabled guards and walked out of the prison.

The inmate was apprehended several days later and the captain he conspired with was charged with criminal negligence, but the prisoner wasn’t charged because he was already serving a life sentence.

More than a century later, his descendants are doing what they can to honor a sacrifice that wasn’t even given the on-duty classification until earlier this year.

Kathy Evans of Muskegon, told the Free Press that her great-great-grandmother, Haight’s widow, had to fight the state for survivor benefits for years.

“I was very close to my grandmother and this was her grandpa,” Evans told the Free Press. “So when I discovered the full story of what happened, I wanted to do everything I could to honor him.”