The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 1 plus 4 plus 3 plus 2 letter word MAKE A BOLT FOR IT
M
A
K
E
A
B
O
L
T
F
O
R
I
T
More clues leading to the result MAKE A BOLT FOR IT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "What a screw might do with a broken cell door/or an inmate" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case what a screw might do with a broken cell door/or an inmate = make a bolt for it.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.