Officials said a kitchen supervisor left Grant Hardin alone on a loading dock and a tower guard let him out the gates.

Two employees at an Arkansas prison where an inmate known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” escaped have been fired for policy violations, corrections officials said Thursday as they faced questions from lawmakers who said the escape points to deeper problems.

The employees unwittingly helped Grant Hardin, a former police chief, walk out of a prison in May, dressed in a fake law enforcement uniform, officials said.