Bobby Miller wasn't really a bad sort as convicted felons go, he had pulled at short series of B&Es and caught 6 years for it in his late teens. But, he was short, blond haired, blue eyed, had few friends or fighting skills, and the other inmates is some of MD's toughest prisons looked at him like he was a piece of meat. In a way he was.
So, Bobby escaped from every prison he was incarcerated at. He lay down in the snow under a white sheet at the House of Correction,which led to all inmate sheets being dyed blue.
Anyway, it was 1980, he was back from his escape at MHC, and I saw him moseying around the yard with the other inmates during rec time. I was working OT, and holding down a ground level gun post outside the yard, between the main entrance and the Northwest Tower.Armament was an 870 with 00 and a S&W Model 64.In the NW tower, a rookie of questionable intelligence and sanity was posted.At one point, Bobby approached the fence, waved and yelled something like," Would you shoot me if I jumped the fence,Mr McCracken?". I smiled like a possum and yelled back he didn't want to find out. I spoke truly.
Around 8 the yard closed, and the gym closed at 10PM and the last count began. I stood down and prepared to close the post, which was to happen when the count cleared. Instead, I had a LT head out the entrance to tell the perimeter guards that one inmate was missing off the count. Right, Bobby Miller....
I told the Lt that Bobby had been in the yard earlier. He continued to check the perimeter but got on the radio and directed a team to search the yard while he finished up the perimeter. After he told the rookie in the NW tower what was going on, he headed for the back fence. I eased over as far as I could and told the rookie that any fire in my sector would be mine alone. Friendly fire isn't.
Sure enough, Bobby was hiding in the yard and ran for the fence when spotted. The team saw this and yelled. I racked a round without having Bobby in sight and awaited events.
The team about rolled on the ground telling me about it afterwards. According to them, Bobby skidded to halt when he heard the shuck, threw his hands up and screamed something like "Don't let that $$%^&*( McCracken kill me". They took him into custody without further incident. Besides Attempting an Escape, he was charged with disrespect for calling me a #$%^&*.
I wouldn't depend on the sound doing the job, but yes,it can work.