Regarding the escape, the two inmates supposedly escaped through the steam tunnels that run below the prison. Some of the articles said they accessed the tunnels from the power house, which if I'm not mistaken is situated inside the prison walls. Haven't heard how they got into the power house though. They must have broken in some way. They may have picked up the power tools there. The tunnels are regularly inspected for problems. It's obvious the tunnels run outside the walls, and there were probably chained and padlocked metal gates closing those areas off, but they more than likely broke through them with the power tools. There's manholes inside the prisons, but they are bolted down with heavy bars and padlocks. The ones outside the walls where they escaped from apparently weren't. Somebody provided them with the info on how to get to those tunnels since neither inmate worked in the power house. Or it's possible they may have worked there at one point, and knew the inside of the building. It's also possible that another inmate who worked there filled them in on the details.
I'd assumed on another thread about a week ago, that they had done several dry runs getting out of their cells before the big break. That was confirmed in one of the articles somebody posted today. What they did isn't something you do the first time. Practice makes perfect. Their being in honor housing probably meant that their cells weren't searched very often, if ever. I'm not sure exactly where the honor housing cells were located at Clinton, but in Auburn, they were the top two tiers in C-Block.
Yeah, prisons are noisy, and the max facilities are like echo chambers. Same with the messhall. You got used to it though. Back when I started at Auburn, they were still using metal trays in the messhalls. Every so often, during the meal, a stack of them would fall over and crash onto the cement floor. It reverberated through the hall, but you'd be so used to the sound level in the place, that you didn't flinch when it happened.
Actually the power house is outside the walls. It's about three blocks away.
The prisoners work in the power house. I assume it's trustees and they work with contractors. Not sure what they're doing now. The manhole cover is close to the power house.