Inmates left cell, got cigarettes, returned – Tuesday’s escape not first time prisoners got out, officials say
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It seems these prisoners were more interested in profit than freedom.
During a Friday meeting of the Jail Oversight Committee to discuss security, commissioners revealed prisoners having been escaping from their cells, getting cigarettes and other contraband, then returning as if they had never left.
‘The first ones that got out just climbed down the wall too,’ said Commissioner David Grissom, who is no longer a member of the committee but attended the meeting. ‘But they didn’t escape, they came back in. They just found a way in and out. You could see their footprints where they’d climb up the wall.’
The meeting was called to address the Tuesday night escape of Susej Riddle and Michael Wright Jr., but other jail problems were quickly revealed.
Committee member George Smartt explained that certain prisoners were letting themselves out and then back into the jail by taking the windows out and then replacing them. The prisoners had discovered a method where they could remove the seals around the windows and gain access to the retaining blocks, which they then removed and simply lifted the window out. Once back in their cells, they replaced the windows, retaining blocks and seals, thus concealing their activities.
‘They got out in the exercise yard where they would get cigarettes that were thrown in to them, or handed in to them, and brought them back inside,’ Smartt said, ‘and they were selling the cigarettes inside.’
Some commissioners weren’t surprised these particular prisoners didn’t make an effort to complete their escape.
‘They were making too much money to leave,’ quipped Commissioner Gary Prater. ‘They had a heck of a cigarette business going.’
It was after this situation, which occurred several months ago, that an effort was made to increase security in that area of the jail, as County Executive John Pelham, who also attended the meeting, explained.
‘Since that happened, we put bars up,’ Pelham said.
‘Yes, we put the bars up and the windows were supposed to be more secure,’ Smartt agreed. But as officials were soon to discover, those bars provided little detriment to the subsequent escape.
These incidents left some commissioners wondering why there were any windows at all on the outside of the jail.
‘The state made us put in those windows,’ answered Commissioner Carl Bouldin.
‘They have to have the light,’ added Smartt. ‘They have to have the ability to know when it’s daylight and dark outside.’
‘There has to be so much candlepower in each cell,’ said Bouldin. ‘And that’s the law.’
According to jail officials the escape could have been worse, since only two of the nine prisoners in the cell, located in an area called B-pod, escaped.
‘All nine of them could have gone out,’ said jail director Eddie Knowles. ‘There was nine in that cell and they all could have gone out, but they didn’t want to.’
Apparently most of the prisoners didn’t want to risk more jail time for an attempted escape. But even though they didn’t leave their cell, authorities say they may still be subject to prosecution for aiding in the escape of Wright and Riddle.
Smartt says, though the recent escape is certainly troublesome, most new jails go through these kinds of growing pains.
‘These guys spend 24 hours a day looking for things to tear up and break in and out of,’ Smartt said.
But Smartt says he does feel substandard jail design has played a part in the current problems. In fact, the Jail Oversight Committee has always had major concerns with some of the materials specified by jail architect Jim Armstrong, who had never built a jail before.
‘I don’t think anybody is blaming jail personnel or the construction part of it,’ Smartt said. ‘Because we recognize those were the cheapest windows that could be specified in there. Just everything was done as cheap as possible. That’s what’s caused our problem.’
Even more disconcerting, once inside the cell to inspect the damage, commissioners found potential methods for prisoners to exit the cell and move about the ceiling area. Commissioners noticed the metal ceiling had been pulled down at one corner enough to allow egress, and upon inspection, it was found that contraband had apparently been stashed there, something Knowles said investigators had already discovered.
A number of modifications are being discussed to strengthen security at the jail, including repairing the ceiling, installing even sturdier bars on the outside windows, moving the cameras covering the exercise yard, and increasing the lighting to provide a better view of the area to allow more effective surveillance, and installing more effective wire across the top of the outside walls, since the current razor-wire is not very effective.
‘It’s made out of aluminum,’ said Knowles. ‘They just pulled it back with a blanket and climbed out under it.’
‘We just have to find these things,’ Smartt said. ‘And hopefully that’s the last problem we’re going to have. Everything else is secure, or it seems to be.
‘But there’s not a jail made that’s totally escape proof,’ Smartt added, ‘because they’ll find a way to do it.’