An apparent escape kit and illegal steroids have been seized at the McNeil Island Corrections Center in Washington, authorities said.
Both discoveries, although apparently unrelated, were made during a snowy, icy spell in early January, state prison officials said recently.
Escape materials - leather gloves, knee and elbow pads and a rope ladder made of shoelaces and sawed-off broom handles - were found during a routine search of an inmate leaving the prison law library, officials said.
Mark Vannausdle, 45, convicted of robbery and assault, told investigators he made the ladder, according to a statement issued by the prison. The investigation results have been sent to the Pierce County prosecutor's office for a decision on whether to file charges.
Vannausdle is serving a 20-year sentence stemming from the commandeering of a taxi cab and the shooting of the driver in 2002.
Prison officials would not discuss details of the drug find, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Inmates and other sources familiar with the investigation who asked not to be named told The News Tribune of Tacoma as many as 100 syringes and doses of steroids were found in a computer laboratory where classes are taught by Pierce College instructors.
The lab search was ordered after the escape kit was found, but that is the only apparent link, the sources said.
Authorities shut down most of the community college program at the prison and canceled classes for several weeks.