Jimmy Causey escaped from a South Carolina prison this week, but his methods this time around were far more high-tech than they were a dozen years ago, when he broke free from another maximum-security state prison.

The authorities in South Carolina say they believe that Mr. Causey, who was captured Friday in Texas after fleeing from prison on Tuesday night, had used at least one cellphone and a drone to make his escape.

“We 100 percent know a cellphone was used or multiple cellphones were used while he was incarcerated, and we believe a drone was used to fly in the tools that allowed him to escape,” Bryan Stirling, the director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, said at a news conference on Friday. Mr. Causey was serving a life sentence for kidnapping a lawyer.

A tip early Friday led the authorities to a Motel 6 in Austin, Tex., where Mr. Causey, 46, was staying, according to Mark Keel, the head of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.