Jailbreak – Inmates kick out bar, use sheets to escape
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‘There are no excuses,’ said Sheriff Jackie Matheny of the first jailbreak in the institution’s two-and-a-half years. ‘I’ve always been concerned about those windows. We’re going to do what we can to get it more secure.’
Matheny’s comments came after both escapees, Susej Riddle, 19, and Michael Wright Jr., 18, were captured separately Wednesday, just hours after they escaped around 11 p.m. the preceding night.
An internal investigation revealed the men, who were cellmates, kicked out the window of their second-story cell and then kicked one of the bars loose where they could squeeze through, lowering themselves to the exercise yard floor below.
‘The glass shattered into 1,000 pieces and then it only took them six kicks to kick out one of the cell bars. It didn’t take long at all,’ Matheny said. ‘Then they took their bedsheets, knotted them up and slid down to the ground outside. After that they ran across the yard, scaled the fence and used their blankets to cover the razor wire and get over.’
Matheny said the escape was discovered soon after the men left, but they were already off the grounds. Matheny also says other inmates may be charged since investigators believe some fellow prisoners not only knew of the escape but may have helped shield the escapees from sight of the guard in the indoor surveillance tower, preventing the guard from seeing what was going on in the cell. The escape happened around 11 p.m. just before official lights out.
While the men were able to be the first to escape Warren County Jail, they were unable to exploit their new-found freedom as Riddle was found hiding in a residence on Beta Street.
‘He didn’t want to come out so we shot some pepper spray to get him to come around,’ Matheny said of Riddle’s capture. ‘Mr. Wright came out when we surrounded the residence on McReynolds Road and told him we knew he was in there. We’re just glad we got them back and no one got hurt.’
Both men were being held on felony charges awaiting trial, Riddle for allegedly robbing a pizza deliveryman and Wright for his part in a home invasion on Martin Street in which a woman was allegedly raped.
Along with the pair, three women have been charged with lying to lawmen about their whereabouts. Brittany Nichole Jaco, 18, Martina Erin Norris, 18, and a 16-year-old juvenile, all of the McReynolds Road address where Wright was caught, have been charged with filing a false report.
Warrants reveal the women denied seeing Wright even though lawmen had information he had been dropped off at the home. He was found hiding inside a short time later. Matheny said anyone who aided and abetted the escapees can expect to be charged in the near future.
Given the relative ease in which the teens escaped, Matheny said there will have to be a way to make certain cells at the facility are more secure.
‘The bars were welded in there but they were able to get through them with just six kicks,’ Matheny said. ‘Right now the cell is shut off until we figure out how to better enforce it and make it secure.’
Matheny said there were around 200 inmates being held at the time of the escape. Both men have been charged with felony escape.