MUSKEGON, MI – A prisoner at Muskegon’s Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility has been arraigned on a felony escape charge for allegedly burying himself in a prison garden in a failed escape attempt Aug. 26.

Edwin Wayne Cota, 26, was arraigned Wednesday before Muskegon County 60th District Judge Andrew Wierengo III on a charge of prison escape.



Normally prison escape brings a maximum five-year sentence, which is served after completion of the prisoner’s original sentence. But in Cota’s case the possible maximum sentence jumps to life in prison or any term of years because he’s charged as a fourth-time habitual offender.

Cota’s prior convictions include first-degree home invasion, being a felon in possession of a firearm and third-degree fleeing and eluding police, all from 2012 in Wayne County.

Cota allegedly placed a makeshift dummy in his bed, made up of various items, so it would look like he was there during an evening head count. But corrections officers began searching for him after his cellmate, pulled aside for questioning because he was pacing around and acting nervous, told officers Cota was missing.

Cota was found buried in a prison garden, reportedly with a sheet tied into knots that he was allegedly planning to use to get over the prison fence.

The Michigan Department of Corrections offender-search website was down Thursday afternoon, so it wasn’t immediately clear how long Cota’s current sentences are or whether he was transferred after the escape attempt.