NATCHEZ — A Natchez City Jail inmate fell through the jail ceiling Thursday night during a failed escape attempt one day after he was arrested, leaving a hole in the ceiling as big as the hole in his escape plan.

Natchez Detective Jerry Ford said a booking officer heard a noise in the jail ceiling shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday and began walking the hallway to track the noise.

Ford said a foot popped out of a ceiling tile, and inmate Jacob C. Simmons, 22, 148 N. Palestine Road, then came crashing down out of the ceiling.

The booking officer, Ford said, apprehended Simmons, who was put back in a cell.

Ford said Simmons was somehow able to chip away at the Sheetrock and bend the steel rods on the ceiling back to climb in the ceiling.

“I have no idea how he did it,” Ford said. “(Simmons) said he did it with his hands, and we searched the cell and did not find any kind of object he could have used.”

Simmons was booked Wednesday on a burglary charge and was charged Thursday with attempted felony escape, Ford said.

No bond has been set for Simmons.