NATCHEZ — A prisoner’s hope for escape died Monday with a quick crunch and a sudden plunge.

According to reports at the Natchez Police Department, Gerry D. Byrd, 21, was in custody when he tried to escape by stacking chairs from the room in which he was being kept and crawling into the ceiling.

Once in the ceiling, however, the suspect fell through into a conference room, where he was detained and taken back to the booking room to be charged with felony escape.

Byrd was booked into the jail earlier Monday on charges of contempt of court, a motor vehicle violation, no seat belt and a controlled substance violation.