Killers Escape Dressed as Guards
From wire services:
GRADY, ARKANSAS — Two men convicted of capital murder escaped from Cummins Prison on Friday night after putting on corrections officers uniforms and walking out during a shift change.
Spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections Dina Tyler said video surveillance showed inmates Jeffrey Grinder, 32, and Calvin Adams, 39, putting on the uniforms, which are made at Cummins, in the prison library after the 6 p.m. head count, then walking out of the prison about 20 minutes later. The pair drove off in a car --a maroon or burgundy colored, 4-door sedan-- that had been left for them in the prison parking lot.
They were not missed by corrections officials until the 10 p.m. inmate headcount, Tyler said. Prison officials are trying to determine if all policies and procedures were followed.
Both men were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Local officials say they pose a threat to anyone they encounter.
Grinder is a white male, 5-feet, 9-inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Adams is a white male, 5-feet, 7-inches tall, weighing 154 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Grinder was convicted of capital murder in 2004. Adams was convicted of the same offense in 1995. Both men have family in Arkansas and out of state.
I guess Cummins is not to be confused with a federal “Super Max” prison.
Mass Jailbreak at Peru Prison
From wire services:
LIMA (Peru) - AT LEAST 44 inmates broke out of a remote prison in Peru's northern jungle on Saturday, prison authorities reported.
The escape took place at the San Humberto de Bagua Grande prison in Utcubamba, in the Amazonas region. According to local daily El Comercio, the incident occurred at 6:10 a.m. local time (1110 GMT). When two guards opened the prisoners' inside doors, they were suddenly ambushed by about 100 inmates who threatened the officers with knives, the National Penal Institute (INPE) said in a statement.
The inmates fled through the front door, taking with them an AK-47 automatic rifle, the INPE said. Some witnesses said that some prisoners jumped into a river near the prison, while others escaped into forest to hide.
Early reports said that 25 inmates had fled and were holding prison guards hostage.
The majority of those who fled were convicted or facing trial for violent robbery, the EFE news agency said.
A senior penal system authority flew to the site while the National Police began an operation to re-capture the convicts.
A special committee meanwhile was in talks with jungle natives to stop vehicles on an area highway to help authorities apprehend the inmates, according to the president of the Amazonas region, Oscar Altamirano Quispe.
The prison is located some 900 kilometres north of Lima. The prison designed to hold 60 prisoners, has more than 200 inmates and 11 guards.
That was short and sweet. See you Monday ...if anyone escapes, that is.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
More Unauthorized Exfiltrations (as of 1.32 a.m. 30 May 2009)
Kiwi Escapes The Chair
From New Zealand wire services…
A handcuffed, low-security prisoner was being escorted by guards from a prison van to the Turangi dental surgery when the inmate made a run for it, according to acting Tongariro/Rangipo Prison Manager Zak Peacock. The escape bid was short-lived: The inmate was caught just 16 minutes into his flight this morning (29 May 2009).
"Our staff immediately pursued the prisoner. This was noticed by a member of the public who helpfully contacted police," Peacock added. Other prison staff were placed around the town and using radios were able to close in on him.
Peacock said the aspiring escapee [name not given] now faces criminal charges and a likely increase of his security classification. All for the sake of a 16-minute run in a pair of handcuffs. …I don't know where this prisoner thought he would go while handcuffed, not many people like going to the dentist, but this was ridiculous."
Well, gee Mr. Peacock, if the guy was used to making good decisions he wouldn’t be an inmate now, would he?
They’re Breaking Up That Old (Youth) Gang of Mine
From The Frederick News-Post, Maryland...rewritten…
May 29--SABILLASVILLE – On Wednesday night 14 youths escaped from the Victor Cullen Center after overpowering staff members there. They are back in custody and have been transferred to other detention centers across the state, according to the Department of Juvenile Services.
Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, one of the youths began to act out, said Tammy Brown, DJS spokeswoman. Staff members followed protocol by trying to calm him down. They tried to restrain him, but he broke free and that caused a commotion. Several youths broke into a locked building (where woodworking classes are held) by pushing an air conditioning unit out and breaking a window, she said. Then they broke into a locked cabinet that housed the woodworking tools and used them to cut the fence.
Six staff members and one resident who were injured during the escape have been released from two hospitals, she said. The injuries were minor and included a fractured finger and cuts and bruises.
Four of the youths were found Wednesday night walking along nearby railroad tracks, and they have been charged with escape, said Brown.
One of the young men at the center that night was 18-year-old Julian B. Jackson. He was found at 7:46 p.m, according to charging documents. Jackson was hiding with nine other youths in a maintenance building outside the secured area of a state-run detention center. Jackson is now being held without bail at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center. Prosecutors have charged him with second-degree escape, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both.
Capt. David Ward, director of security at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, said his staff transported Jackson and eight juveniles from Victor Cullen. They also took five youths to a regional detention center in Baltimore and three others to the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center.
On Wednesday night calls and e-mails were sent to homeowners who are on a list when an escape and capture occurs, as dozens of Maryland State Police troopers and Frederick County Sheriff's Office deputies searched the area, Brown said.
The DJS Inspector General's Office is investigating the escape, Brown reported. Officials were interviewing staff members and youths Thursday and inspecting the perimeter of the center. The DJS is reevaluating where to keep the tools when the youths are not using them, Brown added.
But wait! Leaving the tools inside the prison eliminates all those inconvenient visits by relatives who have to bake files and hacksaws into cakes…
From the Ashville (North Carolina) Citizen-Times…
BRYSON CITY — A former Swain County jailer, Anita Kaye Vestal, is facing four felony and two misdemeanor charges after police say she helped a suspected murderer escape and fled with him to California. She is set to appear in court Aug. 13.
Jeffery Czechonna Miles, 27, escaped from the Bryson City jail on March 21. Vestal is charged with aiding and abetting his escape. Police allege Vestal gave Miles keys to an exterior door and turned off the alarm in the control room when he unlocked the door. Miles then hid in Vestal's minivan as she drove him to her apartment. They changed clothes in the van and left in her father's pickup.
The two were arrested April 19 in Vallejo, Calif., after a month on the run. Investigators began conducting surveillance at a motel on the outskirts of town after locating the suspects' vehicle in the parking lot, police said.
Miles is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Aug. 5 2008 slayings of Swain County residents James David Scott Wiggins and Michael Heath Compton. Five other people are charged in the case.
Vestal has been charged with felony conspiracy, misdemeanor aiding and abetting an escape from a local jail, felony harboring an escapee, felony provision of drugs to an inmate, misdemeanor obstructing justice and felony conveying messages with convicts or prisoners.
Vestal is being held in the Macon County Detention Center under a $25,000 bond. Miles is being held at Central Prison in Raleigh. He will also be charged with misdemeanor escape from a local jail.
12 ½ Years For Drinking a Beer (and One Other Offense)
From North Carolina news outlets:
The inmate who authorities say escaped from Polk County, North Carolina courthouse has been sentenced to another 12 ½ years in prison, according to the Hendersonville Times-News. Authorities say they caught Steven David Taylor nine days after his escape on March 20 when he stopped at a friend’s house for a beer.
The paper reported Taylor was convicted of being a habitual felon. This time, he was wearing shackles around his wrists and ankles in court. Taylor is due back in court to face the escape charge on June 3rd.
Barb Wire Cuts Escape Attempt Short
From the Franklin County Times, Alabama:
An inmate injured himself while trying to escape from the exercise yard at the Franklin County Detention Center earlier this week.
Jail administrator Capt. James Woodall said Joseph Thomas Postell, 20, sustained injuries from the barbwire fence when he climbed over one of the two fences surrounding the facility.
"The attempted escape happened during his exercise time," Woodall said. "He climbed over one of the fences, but did not attempt to climb the second fence because of his injuries.
Postell, who had been in the jail since late April on burglary and assault charges, was treated at the jail and later sent to Russellville Hospital for treatment of his injuries. Woodall reported, “He received a large cut on his leg, which had to be glued back together instead of stitches, and he has a compressed fracture in his foot."
Postell now faces additional charges of second-degree escape, which is a Class C felony, which carries a sentence of one to 10 years in prison upon conviction.
Triple Murderer Makes Well-Dressed Return to Jail
From the Saturday Star, South Africa:
Farouk Meyer, 33, the convicted triple murderer who made a brazen escape from prison on Monday, is back behind bars. Meyer honoured his word and handed himself over at the Sandton police station on Wednesday.
Dressed in a beige suit, blue shirt and tie, Meyer stepped out of a taxi carrying a black briefcase. He was met by a contingent of media members, police officers, relatives, Sandton police station commissioner Director Alan Billings, Department of Police spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng Justice Department spokesperson Collin Msibi as well as the handover facilitator, 702 Crime Line head Yusuf Abramjee.
Before handing over the allegedly compelling evidence he claims would prove his innocence, Meyer said he was not scared of going back to prison, but that he wanted to ensure justice was served and all criminals involved in his case were held accountable. "All I'm asking for is justice... Every person who committed a crime must be held accountable for their crime," he said.
By "every person" he was referring, among others, to the investigating officer who he claimed planted two extra bullets that got him convicted for three murders.
Meyer was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000 after he was convicted of murdering Desmond Bethanie, Gerald Jacobs and Dawood Malgas inside Club 12 Play in Hillfox, west of Joburg, in November 1999. While he admitted he had fired the shot that fatally wounded Bethanie and Jacobs, he maintained it was in self-defence. He said he was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his friend Malgas.
In a desperate attempt to highlight his "injustice", Meyer escaped from Groenpunt Prison in Vereeniging on Monday while working outside the prison. He said he simply "ran over the veld and got into a taxi and escaped like that".
He claimed there was corruption within the police and prosecuting authority, which he said had secured his conviction. He had sent a petition to the Justice Department in 2005 but never heard from them.
Msibi confirmed that evidence had been handed over to the Justice Department and that they would "look into it". He added that Meyer's petition had been withdrawn sometime in 2007, but could not say why.
Correctional Services spokesman Manelisi Wolela said Meyer would be "downgraded" and sent to a maximum security prison where privileges he once used to enjoy, like working, would be withdrawn.
"Evidence" Meyer handed over included a statement from one of the deceased's daughters saying her father was friends with the investigating officer, and statements from other witnesses saying the investigating officer had "influenced" them.
Interesting evidence. I think Meyer will be spending a lot more time in stir waiting for his new trial.
So that's it. So far, three days in a row with multiple jailbreaks. When a sitcom character says there are prison breaks every day, BELIEVE HER. After all, she's on TV and you're not... See you next time there is news.
Flown The Coop (as of 5 a.m., EDT, 29 May 2009)
I am tracking, as best I can, those individuals who have proactively refused the hospitality of the Government, i.e. escaped from prison …or the county jail or the local lockup.
I will on days when there is prison break news. If a comment seems fitting, I add one at the end of the story. If not, I don't. If there are no prison escapes on a given day, I don't blog. So now, while the guard isn’t looking…
The Jailer just Happened to Be in the Cuff Key Business
From the Durant (Oklahoma) Daily Democrat…
An inmate who bolted Wednesday while being led back to jail after a court hearing unlocked his leg and arm restraints with a handcuff key that he bought from a jailer, authorities said.
The jailer was arrested Wednesday evening and is being held in another county. He is expected to be charged Friday. Bryan County Sheriff Bill Sturch said they reviewed the courthouse surveillance footage and determined that Billy Joe Wallace, 18, …who was quickly captured, was restrained and also chained to other inmates before he escaped. According to Sturch, Wallace had obtained a key from a jailer to open the handcuffs and leg irons. Investigators believe Wallace unlocked the leg irons while in the jury box and that he opened the handcuffs after being led outside. The leg irons were still on his ankles while he was being led back to jail but were unlocked.
“He had communicated with at least two people outside of the jail that he was going to do this,” Sturch said. “This was all planned.”
Wallace ran while the door outside of the jail was being opened according to the sheriff’s office, and he then got into a car that was parked in the alley behind First Christian Church across the street from the library. Authorities said he then drove to Taco Casa where he picked up his girlfriend and a 17-year-old boy. A few minutes later, a Durant officer who was on Rodeo Road saw a silver Honda Accord traveling on Highway 78. Sturch said every exit from the city [was] sealed within three minutes.
Authorities said that speeds [in the chase] exceeded 100 miles per hour. Calera Police [roadblocks] were set up at the highways 78 and 70E intersection at Chuck’s Corner and Wallace turned around and headed back toward Durant, according to Sturch.
“I’ll bet you 25 squad cars were behind him between Durant and Chuck’s Corner — he didn’t have a prayer,” Sturch said.
Deputy Shawn Pierce used road spikes and deflated the car’s front tires, according to Sturch, and the chase ended with a crash on East Locust Street. Wallace was tackled and brought back to jail. A Durant officer suffered an injured shoulder during the scuffle.
The escape was reported to the communications center at the Durant Police Department at 9:54 a.m. and Wallace was back in custody less than 20 minutes later.
His girlfriend was arrested for suspicion of aiding and abetting escape and the juvenile was also taken into custody. Authorities said the teen knew of the escape plans and he could be charged as an adult.
The woman who owned the car told investigators that she had been asked to come pick up some of Wallace’s property from the jail and that she was not aware of the escape plans. She said Wallace told her to get out of the vehicle and that he got in and drove away. She has not been arrested.
Sheriff’s Investigator John Bates said Wallace’s girlfriend placed a decoy 911 call claiming she was being chased on Ranchette Road in a failed attempt to divert officers to the west side of the city. She also said the escape had been planned for approximately one week, Bates said.
“This was a well-planned thing,” Bates said. “They had to have a lot of things go right.”
According to Bates, the jailer admitted to selling Wallace the key. An investigation is continuing and authorities said there may be additional arrests.
Wallace will be locked down and the next time he is escorted to a court appearance, it will be with an armed deputy, according to Sturch, who said Wallace is now facing 25-30 years in prison. Wallace was initially jailed on a first-degree robbery charge.
his was not the first time Wallace escaped. On May 4, he fled after he was brought to the emergency room for a head injury, according to the sheriff’s office. Sturch said Wallace was free a little more than 32 hours until he was arrested at Stone Creek Baptist Church by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers. A jailer was fired because Wallace was not wearing handcuffs and leg irons while at the hospital. Wallace was charged with escape for that incident and ordered held without bail.
Three Escapees Caught in Jieshou City, China
From chinaview.cn and Xinhua News Agency:
Police have caught all three prison escapees who broke away with violence on May 23 from a prison in east China's Jieshou City, Anhui Province, a senior police officer said Friday.
Cai Zhaoliang, police chief of Fuyang City, which administrates Jieshou, said the three escapees were caught in neighboring Henan Province Thursday. Cai said inmate Wang Hanyu was the chief instigator of the premeditated prison break. He died in the attempt, after he cut his femoral artery on the iron halberd on the prison gate and failed [to get?] emergency care.
Three other inmates escaped from the detention center: Guo Wenwu, 20, serving 11 years; Guo Bingwei, 24, doing 8 years; and Liu Kai, a 17-year-old in custody [pending sentencing?]. The three were convicted of theft and robbery.
Cai said Jieshou Prison is overcrowded, and lacks sufficient police personnel to guarantee security. The four escapees shared the same ward with 15 other inmates. They pretended to be fighting at about 1:50 a.m. and escaped when police opened the door to stop the fighting. …Prison officer Ma Hui entered the ward with five other guards. …Ma did not lock the corridor door when he opened the ward. The [escapees] hit Ma [in the] head and ran directly toward the prison gate. After the incident, Ma and another prison officer were detained for investigation, and the prison chief and a prosecutor were removed from their posts.
Help from “inside” seems to be theme this week…
Don’t Worry, The Supervisor is Going to Be Okay
From WTVC Channel 9 in Chattanooga, Tennessee…
A spokesman with the Floyd County Prison says 41-year-old Jack Belcher took off while he was on work detail. Deputy Warden of Security, David Jackson, says Belcher asked the guard on duty if he could use the restroom. Then they heard squealing tires, and saw Belcher speeding off in a City of Rome pick up truck.
Officials working this case do not know if Belcher is armed. The escape happened around 1:30 this afternoon [May 28]. The U.S. Marshal's Office and Fugitive Squad have been trying to find Belcher ever since. They say they have leads, but can't release them. It is not known if Belcher has family or friends in the Chattanooga area. Jackson says it's possible Belcher is on the way to Texas, but couldn't confirm that.
Jack Belcher has brown hair and blues eyes. He's 5'7' and weighs 160 pounds. He was last seen in Rome City Ford F-150. If you think you have seen Jack Belcher, call 911. Jackson says the supervisor working during the escape will not be reprimanded.
NZ's longest prison break
From the Sunday News, New Zealand…
Convicted extortionist Brandon Victor Pillay is New Zealand's greatest prison escaper. The South African migrant walked off a Rangipo Prison detail, and is on the run ... eight years later. And Sunday News has been told Pillay's "walkaway escape" is the most common method Kiwi inmates use to break free.
Pillay who fled the Tongariro-based jail on August 10, 2001 is New Zealand's longest-running escapee in recent history according to statistics released to Sunday News under the Official Information Act.
At the time of his escape, the then 24-year-old Pillay described as 171cm tall, of skinny build with black hair and brown eyes and speaking with a strong South African accent was serving a 15-month sentence for extortion. He was one of seven prisoners to escape from Rangipo Prison that year.
A Department of Corrections spokesman said Pillay, of South African and Indian descent, was the "longest escapee since at least the early 90s".
The next longest time a prisoner had recently spent at large was believed to have been the almost seven years by William Gordon Brough. Part way through a four-year term for drug-related crimes, Brough escaped from Wanganui prison on August 16, 2002 and evaded capture until March this year.
Corrections said escapees are generally captured within a week.
Pillay and Brough's escape methods were classified as "other" by Corrections meaning they simply walked away from the prison or a jail-related programme. Between August 2007 and March 2009, 23 prisoners escaped that way.
Prison Services executive services manager Kelley Reeve said the "walkaway escape" was "the most common method of escape used" by Kiwi prisoners and Corrections was addressing the issue.
Between July 2007 and March 2009, 10 other prisoners escaped by breaking out of either their prison, a police cell, a court complex or "any other place of custodial control".
A total of 33 prisoners escaped from New Zealand prisons between July 2007 and March 2009. The jail with the single most escapes was Waikeria Prison, near Te Awamutu, with four prisoners walking out of custody and two breaking out.
Prison escapes have been on the decline over the past decade, from 89 in the 1996-1997 financial year to 19 during 2006/2007.
Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill was facing fresh calls to quit last night after a convicted murderer went on the run from the same jail another violent criminal had fled just over a week earlier.
A furious political row broke out when it emerged that both he and First Minister Alex Salmond knew killer John Brown had absconded from a Tayside open prison but did not mention it during a debate in the Scottish Parliament about an earlier incident involving Brian “Hawk” Martin.
As police continued to hunt for 57-year-old Brown, Labour leader Iain Gray described the ministers’ actions as “completely unacceptable” and urged Mr. Salmond to apologise.
Brown failed to return to Castle Huntly jail, near Dundee, on Wednesday after being given home leave. His disappearance came two days after Martin handed himself in to police a week after going on the run from Castle Huntly. Brown was transferred to Castle Huntly from Shotts Prison in Lanarkshire on February 12 and was serving a life sentence after being convicted of murder at the High Court in Glasgow in 1976.
Brown is described as 5ft 5in, with short, brown hair and green eyes. He has links with the Glasgow area. Tayside Police urged anyone who had seen Brown or had information about his whereabouts to contact them.
Martin, 51, was jailed in 2006 for a shotgun attack on a former drug dealer in his Fife home.
It emerged last night that both Mr Salmond and Mr MacAskill had been told about Brown’s disappearance on Wednesday evening, but kept quiet at Holyrood [the Scottish Parliament] yesterday.
Mr Gray said it was “inexcusable” that the first minister did not tell parliament about Brown’s disappearance: “It is incredible to think that Alex Salmond thought it best not to inform parliament of this development. His actions do not befit the office of first minister. …Mr MacAskill’s failure to deal with this debacle means he must go, but the first minister is also hugely damaged by this affair.”
On Monday, the day Martin handed himself in to police, Mr MacAskill said he had been informed by the Scottish Prison Service that Martin had previously escaped from prison 22 years ago.
The Escapees Under The Stairs
From KansasCity.com…
JEFFERSON CITY --A public defender told a Cole County judge Wednesday that 33-year-old Christopher Sims was not guilty of first-degree murder in the pickaxe killing of 28-year-old Toby Viles.
Sims and another inmate, Shannon Phillips, were found after nearly four days behind the hollow bottom of a staircase — less than 10 yards from where the killing happened in a basement at the Missouri State Penitentiary.
Sims is currently an inmate at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. He has been in prison since 1998 after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Phillips previously was sentenced to life in prison in the killing.
It's One At a Time in Washington State
From KIMATV.com in Washington State…
Yakima -- As one offender is put behind bars another escapes.
Billy Garner was at the Ahtanum View work release program, a partial confinement facility. Garner had a pass to go to Wal-Mart Saturday but never came back. He was arrested Wednesday in Ritzville, but we were just told about it Thursday which made us a little nervous. "It is our policy and procedure to notify the public about prison escapes, so the key here is to recognize the difference between an escape from a prison and an escape from a work release facility."
Department of Corrections tells us Garner will not return to the work release program. He'll now go to prison, which would mean it is policy to let us know if he gets away from there.
Another Jailer-Aided Escape
From the Durant (Oklahoma) Daily Democrat…
DURANT — An inmate who bolted Wednesday while being led back to jail after a court hearing unlocked his leg and arm restraints with a handcuff key that he bought from a jailer, authorities said.
The jailer was arrested Wednesday evening and is being held in another county. He is expected to be charged Friday.
Bryan County Sheriff Bill Sturch said they reviewed the courthouse surveillance footage and determined that Billy Joe Wallace, 18, Durant, who was quickly captured, was restrained and also chained to other inmates before he escaped.
According to Sturch, Wallace had obtained a key from a jailer to open the handcuffs and leg irons. Investigators believe Wallace unlocked the leg irons while in the jury box and that he opened the handcuffs after being led outside. The leg irons were still on his ankles while he was being led back to jail but were unlocked.
“He had communicated with at least two people outside of the jail that he was going to do this,” Sturch said. “This was all planned.”
Wallace ran while the door outside of the jail was being opened according to the sheriff’s office, and he then got into a car that was parked in the alley behind First Christian Church across the street from the library.
Authorities said he then drove to Taco Casa where he picked up his girlfriend and a 17-year-old boy. A few minutes later, a Durant officer who was on Rodeo Road saw a silver Honda Accord traveling on Highway 78. Sturch said every exit from the city had been sealed within three minutes.
Authorities said that speeds exceeded 100 miles per hour.
Calera Police were set up at the highways 78 and 70E intersection at Chuck’s Corner and Wallace turned around and headed back toward Durant, according to Sturch.
“I’ll bet you 25 squad cars were behind him between Durant and Chuck’s Corner — he didn’t have a prayer,” Sturch said.
Deputy Shawn Pierce used road spikes and deflated the car’s front tires, according to Sturch, and the chase ended with a crash on East Locust Street. Wallace was tackled and brought back to jail. A Durant officer suffered an injured shoulder during the scuffle.
The escape was reported to the communications center at the Durant Police Department at 9:54 a.m. and Wallace was back in custody less than 20 minutes later.
His girlfriend was arrested for suspicion of aiding and abetting escape and the juvenile was also taken into custody. Authorities said the teen knew of the escape plans and he could be charged as an adult.
The woman who owned the car told investigators that she had been asked to come pick up some of Wallace’s property from the jail and that she was not aware of the escape plans. She said Wallace told her to get out of the vehicle and that he got in and drove away. She has not been arrested.
Sheriff’s Investigator John Bates said Wallace’s girlfriend placed a decoy 911 call claiming she was being chased on Ranchette Road in a failed attempt to divert officers to the west side of the city.
She also said the escape had been planned for approximately one week, Bates said.
“This was a well-planned thing,” Bates said. “They had to have a lot of things go right.”
According to Bates, the jailer admitted to selling Wallace the key.
An investigation is continuing and authorities said there may be additional arrests.
Wallace will be locked down and the next time he is escorted to a court appearance, it will be with an armed deputy, according to Sturch, who said Wallace is now facing 25-30 years in prison. Wallace was initially jailed on a first-degree robbery charge.
According to Sturch, Wallace planned the getaway by communicating through the inmate telephone system and by mail. Inmates are allowed to make collect telephone calls.
Investigators are working on reports about the incident and in addition to an escape charge, Wallace is expected to be hit with other charges, including attempting to elude police and running a roadblock, according to Sturch.
This was not the first time Wallace escaped. On May 4, he fled after he was brought to the emergency room for a head injury, according to the sheriff’s office. Sturch said Wallace was free a little more than 32 hours until he was arrested at Stone Creek Baptist Church by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers. A jailer was fired because Wallace was not wearing handcuffs and leg irons while at the hospital. Wallace was charged with escape for that incident and ordered held without bail.
That's it for today. I will post again when and if there is news. After all, people don't escape from prison every day, do they?
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Flown The Coop (as of 8 a.m. 28 May 2009)
This is the first day I'll be tracking, as best I can, those individuals who have proactively refused the hospitality of the Government.
The other night I heard someone say on television, "People escape from jail all the time."
Do they?
Let's see if they do. I will post on days when there is prison break news. If a comment seems fitting, I add one at the end of the story. If not, I don't. If there are no prison escapes on a given day, I don't blog. Now let's all open our Bibles, extract our digging tools, and get busy...
Gone, But Not Far
From KTEN Channel 10 serving North Texas and Southern Oklahoma:
WVUA-TV, Tuscaloosa, Alabama:
Police are searching for two prison escapees in, and around, Perry County. According to the Uniontown Police Department, Joshua Southwick and Ashton Mink escaped at about 5:30 Monday morning from the Perry County Correction Center.
Authorities say they suspect the two cut through 3 fences at the facility. The Alabama Department of Corrections leases bed space from the private facility in Uniontown.
Southwick was serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone County. Mink was serving time for an attempted murder conviction in Madison County in 2005. He is not scheduled for release until 2028.
Residents in the area are on edge, the two men are considered, by police, to be armed and dangerous.
“I really didn't know what to think. I just started locking my doors and I told my kids to come in the house,” said Uniontown resident Clifford Coleman to our reporter.
Many people have been calling the Uniontown Police Department, concerned about the two escapees. Most of the calls focus on one question.
“It’s mainly the same question; have they been captured?” said Uniontown Police Department Dispatcher Victoria Wilson. Wilson goes on to say, “One lady called advising that she hadn't been outside and she hasn't even opened her door for anyone. So they're pretty scared.”
Joshua Southwick is a 26-year-old white male. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. Police say he is 5’9” tall and 150 pounds. Ashton Mink is 23-years-old. He is also white with brown hair and green eyes. He’s 5’8” and weighs 165 pounds. Perry County Sheriffs Office tells us the two were last seen wearing orange prison jumpsuits.
If you see them, do not approach the pair. Call police. You can also call the Perry County Correctional Center at (334) 628-8885 with any tips on the escapees’ whereabouts.
The Tuscaloosa News adds: Prison Warden Tommy Buford did not answer phone calls from a Tuscaloosa News reporter Tuesday or Wednesday. A prison employee referred calls to Dick Harbison, the vice-president of Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections Services, which owns and operates the prison. The 734-bed facility houses prisoners from Alabama and other states in addition to federal prisoners.
The state’s Department of Corrections does not have oversight of the company’s management or security practices at the prison because it is a private corporation.
The Department of Corrections pays the company $32 a day to house 249 state inmates, less than the $41.71 it
costs to house them in a state facility, spokesman Brian Corbett said. He said that the department has not had problems with the Uniontown facility or the company, which housed Alabama inmates in Louisiana because of prison overcrowding between 2003 and 2006.
Until last month, the prison also housed around 80 prisoners from Vermont, but the Vermont Department of Corrections removed those inmates after an investigation into prisoner complaints that they had been injured in fights with other inmates, said Seth Lipshutz, the supervising attorney in Vermont’s Prisoners’ Rights Office.
<--That's Sout
in the nose. Or get shanked...
No Blood Was Spilled...
Various reports, San Quentin, California
Some confusion involving a Bloodmobile truck resulted in a brief lockdown at San Quentin Tuesday. There was a blood drive at the prison, after which the truck was let out of the facility without being checked by guards for escaping prisoners.
The truck was there for staff blood donations. No inmates got close to it, corrections officials say. The lockdown lasted for about 90 minutes.
At Least She Didn't Ruin A Cake...
From the Daily Item of Sunbury, Pennsylvania...
Okay. Let's look at Cho first. He helps a murder suspect escape from detention and gets probation ...which time he uses to allegedly beat up his mother and his aunt. Great call by Judge Cliff Cretan. What does a kid have to do in California to actually go to jail?
That's it for our first blog post. A word about formatting. Instead of spending hours trying to defeat the formatting of news organizations, I go with the paragraph spacing they used. It saves time. Maybe if I get advertising I will try harder. Don't count on it.
Now I gotta get out of here. I will post again when and if there is news. After all, people don't escape from prison every day, do they?
The other night I heard someone say on television, "People escape from jail all the time."
Do they?
Let's see if they do. I will post on days when there is prison break news. If a comment seems fitting, I add one at the end of the story. If not, I don't. If there are no prison escapes on a given day, I don't blog. Now let's all open our Bibles, extract our digging tools, and get busy...
Gone, But Not Far
From KTEN Channel 10 serving North Texas and Southern Oklahoma:
The sheriff says inmate Billy Wallace ran down an alley behind the courthouse, and then headed South on 3rd Street where he got into a car. He says in all his escape lasted about 15 minutes, but that 15 minutes of freedom could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Sheriff Bill Sturch says, "At the rate he's going, he's going to spend the better part of his life in prison."
For a second time, 18-year-old Billy Wallace escaped from jailers in Bryan County, and it turns out, it may not have been just a lucky run.
Wallace's girlfriend, Jessica Miller, and another teenager also face charges. They join Wallace behind bars in the jail that's caught so much attention over the past few years because of escapes.
The sheriff says, "Basically what you have is a guy running into a hornets' nest because there was every law enforcement agency in this part of the world looking for him, and moving into that area."
Authorities believe Wallace ran from the courthouse, and jumped into a car with Miller and the teen, then raced down Highway 78, but crashed when deputies put out spike strips.
Sheriff Sturch is looking into whether Wallace had the proper restraints on at the courthouse to begin with. All he'll say is they're still investigating.
"Were checking to see how he got loose. Don't know if he was cuffed when he escaped."
If that's the case, it brings up an even bigger issue for Bryan County because just three weeks ago that's how Wallace got away the first time. A jailer didn't keep him in handcuffs and leg irons. That jailer was fired.
"It's the same old thing. He didn't get out of jail. He ran out of the courthouse, were trying to find out why and how."
For now Wallace remains locked up in the Bryan County Jail awaiting more charges.
Fifteen minutes and then the rest of his life in prison. Tough but fair.
WVUA-TV, Tuscaloosa, Alabama:
Police are searching for two prison escapees in, and around, Perry County. According to the Uniontown Police Department, Joshua Southwick and Ashton Mink escaped at about 5:30 Monday morning from the Perry County Correction Center.
Authorities say they suspect the two cut through 3 fences at the facility. The Alabama Department of Corrections leases bed space from the private facility in Uniontown.
Southwick was serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone County. Mink was serving time for an attempted murder conviction in Madison County in 2005. He is not scheduled for release until 2028.
“I really didn't know what to think. I just started locking my doors and I told my kids to come in the house,” said Uniontown resident Clifford Coleman to our reporter.
Many people have been calling the Uniontown Police Department, concerned about the two escapees. Most of the calls focus on one question.
“It’s mainly the same question; have they been captured?” said Uniontown Police Department Dispatcher Victoria Wilson. Wilson goes on to say, “One lady called advising that she hadn't been outside and she hasn't even opened her door for anyone. So they're pretty scared.”
Joshua Southwick is a 26-year-old white male. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. Police say he is 5’9” tall and 150 pounds. Ashton Mink is 23-years-old. He is also white with brown hair and green eyes. He’s 5’8” and weighs 165 pounds. Perry County Sheriffs Office tells us the two were last seen wearing orange prison jumpsuits.
If you see them, do not approach the pair. Call police. You can also call the Perry County Correctional Center at (334) 628-8885 with any tips on the escapees’ whereabouts.
The Tuscaloosa News adds: Prison Warden Tommy Buford did not answer phone calls from a Tuscaloosa News reporter Tuesday or Wednesday. A prison employee referred calls to Dick Harbison, the vice-president of Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections Services, which owns and operates the prison. The 734-bed facility houses prisoners from Alabama and other states in addition to federal prisoners.
The state’s Department of Corrections does not have oversight of the company’s management or security practices at the prison because it is a private corporation.
The Department of Corrections pays the company $32 a day to house 249 state inmates, less than the $41.71 it
costs to house them in a state facility, spokesman Brian Corbett said. He said that the department has not had problems with the Uniontown facility or the company, which housed Alabama inmates in Louisiana because of prison overcrowding between 2003 and 2006.Until last month, the prison also housed around 80 prisoners from Vermont, but the Vermont Department of Corrections removed those inmates after an investigation into prisoner complaints that they had been injured in fights with other inmates, said Seth Lipshutz, the supervising attorney in Vermont’s Prisoners’ Rights Office.
<--That's Sout
in the nose. Or get shanked...
No Blood Was Spilled...
Various reports, San Quentin, California
Some confusion involving a Bloodmobile truck resulted in a brief lockdown at San Quentin Tuesday. There was a blood drive at the prison, after which the truck was let out of the facility without being checked by guards for escaping prisoners.
The truck was there for staff blood donations. No inmates got close to it, corrections officials say. The lockdown lasted for about 90 minutes.
At Least She Didn't Ruin A Cake...
From the Daily Item of Sunbury, Pennsylvania...
A Millville woman who tried to help a co-defendant in a drug ring escape from the Lycoming County Prison has been sentenced to seven years in prison followed by four years of supervised release.
U.S. Middle District Senior Judge James F. McClure Jr. sentenced her Tuesday. ...She admitted she tried to help co-defendant Curtis Perry escape from prison. Perry is awaiting trial in Florida in connection with the Oct. 23, 2003, shooting death in Hialeah of an individual he and co-defendant allegedly thought would be testifying against them in another case.
The escape attempt occurred on April 27, 2006, when Kolk began drilling a hole into a wall that separated her from Perry to whom she was talking by telephone in a visitor’s booth. The Lycoming County prison does not allow contact visits. ...[A] federal prosecutor said she took a drill, bit and hacksaw blade undetected into the prison. Her goal was to make a hole in the thick wall large enough to pass the hacksaw blade to Perry, he said. Kolk did not complete the hole. [She] put the residue from the drilling in a bag and left, the prosecutor said. The hole later was discovered and the matter referred to federal marshals since Perry was their responsibility.
Since the incident, the prison requires all visitors to pass through a metal detector.
Good idea, prison.
Prisoner Gets the Shaft
From KeysNet, Florida
...Deputies say James Dumas, 45, climbed up a maintenance shaft at the Stock Island jail and gained access to a hallway that leads to visitation rooms. He was walking down the hallway when two corrections officers spotted him, recognizing him as an inmate.He was apprehended without incident while still inside the building.Dumas reportedly told Detective Diane Mimosa that about a week prior to his attempted escape, during maintenance on plumbing in the unit Dumas was being held in, a door to a maintenance shaft apparently wasn't locked properly. Dumas discovered the error and was able to explore the shaft, looking for a way out. He was unable to find any way out using the shaft, but did manage to find his way to a maintenance closet in the visitation hallway.
He said he used pens and a highlighter to alter some of his jail clothing in hopes of looking less like an inmate; he then waited until a visitation time to attempt his escape.
"The corrections officers who spotted him and recognized what was happening did an outstanding job," Sheriff Bob Peryam said. "We will definitely be looking closely at this incident and will be doing everything we can to keep anything similar from taking place."
Dumas is accused of attempted murder in a machete attack last June 2. He's accused of trying to kill Jacob Freeman, 22, at Freeman's Key Haven home.
Working Together Toward a Common Goal
From the Houston Chronicle
MEXICO CITY -- Soldiers and police searched Monday for dozens of prisoners who busted out of a northern Mexican prison with the aid of their jailers as authorities nationwide struggle with endemic police corruption.
The 53 prisoners, including at least 11 gunmen from the Gulf Cartel drug smuggling organization, escaped early Saturday from the prison in the city of Zacatecas. As many as 30 heavily armed gangsters freed the men in a five-minute assault during which the prisoners were presumably simply set free by their guards, Zacatecas Gov. Amalia Garcia said.
Based in cities and towns bordering far South Texas, the Gulf Cartel is considered among Mexico's most powerful and violent groups.
Officials blame the Zetas, who now often act independently of the cartel, for violence, kidnappings and extortion in Zacatecas, throughout eastern and southern Mexico and into Guatemala.
...The Zetas, gunmen allied with the Gulf Cartel...have become notorious for jailbreaks like that of Zacatecas on Saturday, having raiding prisons in at least four states to rescue arrested colleagues. In Saturday's case the assailants, some dressed as police, arrived in more than a dozen vehicles, quickly entered the prison and left with their prisoners.
USAToday has more, about videos of the escape:
...The video shows bored-looking guards watching TV before one of the prisoners opens an unlocked gate to his cell block and then orders a group of inmates to follow him into the guards' room. The guards step aside, making no moves to stop the escape, until they are shoved into the cell block by the inmates, some of them armed. Prisoners then cover the camera with a blanket. Meanwhile, a second security camera outside the prison filmed the arrival of gunmen in police cars with flashing lights shortly before 5 a.m. Two guards run to open the front gate without questioning the drivers.
This is just one event in the very bloody and unfunny civil war going on in Mexico between the drug cartels and the government.
Up and Coming Offenders
From the Daily Journal, San Mateo County, California...
...[A] former juvenile hall ward convicted of helping a 17-year old murder defendant escape...now faces prison after his probation officer claims he violated probation five times since being released from custody.
One of the violations filed by the officer alleges Vanher Cho, 19, threatened and battered his mother and elderly aunt at their San Francisco residence May 15. A week later, police arrested Cho, [who is being held without bail]. Even one of the alleged violations could send Cho to prison for the two-year term he avoided after pleading no contest last April to one felony count of aiding and abetting. Although prosecutors sought prison and Cho’s defense asked for the Pathways Mental Health Court program and release from custody, Judge Cliff Cretan placed him on five years supervised probation and one year jail with credit for 187 days.
Under the law, a probation violation can reinstate the original sentence carried by a conviction even if a negotiated plea brought a lesser term. Whether prosecutors push for a stringent sentence will depend in part on the facts of the alleged attack on his family and the nature of the other violations, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Cho and accomplice Martin Villa Patino, 19, were both charged with aiding and abetting after pushing Josue Orozco, then 17, over a wall surrounding an outside recreation yard at the Youth Services Center on Paul Scannell Drive in unincorporated San Mateo County. Orozco, awaiting trial for the murder of a 21-year-old Redwood City man, pulled himself over the wall using a halogen light set below the 15-foot minimum and slipped through a three-foot hole previously cut in the perimeter fence.
The escape set off a hunt for Orozco, a trio of investigations into the facility’s security and the county’s response and led to criminal convictions for both Cho and Patino. Patino was also charged with acting to further the Sureño gang of which both he and Orozco belonged.
Cho and Patino were at the juvenile hall instead of the adult Maguire Correctional Center in downtown Redwood City because they were finishing juvenile sentences on unrelated charges. Patino, who was transferred to the jail after turning 18, received two years prison for the escape ...and an unrelated assault on a correctional officer while awaiting trial.
Okay. Let's look at Cho first. He helps a murder suspect escape from detention and gets probation ...which time he uses to allegedly beat up his mother and his aunt. Great call by Judge Cliff Cretan. What does a kid have to do in California to actually go to jail?
That's it for our first blog post. A word about formatting. Instead of spending hours trying to defeat the formatting of news organizations, I go with the paragraph spacing they used. It saves time. Maybe if I get advertising I will try harder. Don't count on it.
Now I gotta get out of here. I will post again when and if there is news. After all, people don't escape from prison every day, do they?
I couldn't delete this ad. Oh well. Sorry there wasn't more payoff for you.
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