What assurances do authorities operating the Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail offer concerning tighter security in the wake of the recent escape and recapture of three prisoners?
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Perimeter gates will be locked;
The guard shack will be manned;
Perimeter checks will be done routinely;
The jail will be adequately staffed;
An investigator will be hired; and
Jail administrators will work with the City of Pattonsburg to more efficiently notify citizens if ever another escape should occur.
Those were the assurances made by the Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail Board and jail staff during a public meeting held Oct. 29 at Pattonsburg fire station. About 15 citizens attended to express concerns and to display emotions ranging from anger to disappointment to hostility.
Daviess County Presiding Commissioner Lance Critten read a statement on behalf of the board apologizing to the people of Pattonsburg for the escape and expressing gratitude to law enforcement and area citizens for their help with the capture of the inmates.
Those in attendance delivered layers of criticism directed specifically and broadly against jail administrator Larry Hadley but stopped short of calling for his dismissal. Two jail guards did lose their jobs on account of the recent escape.
Perhaps Pattonsburg Mayor Gene Walker summed up people’s feelings best when he told the board that three times is enough (actually there have been four escapes at the jail since its public ownership; see adjoining information box). Mr. Walker suggested the board might have to consider a change in management at the jail. He said another escape and the jail would be looking at a civil suit.
"This is nuts!" Mr. Walker said.
Nevertheless, jail board members expressed support for Mr. Hadley at the meeting. DeKalb County Presiding Commissioner Rick Lippold commented that Hadley could just do his job, go home, and leave the jail in the hands of people who didn’t do their job. He asked if Hadley should be held responsible for what the guards do, anymore than a school superintendent should be held responsible for what a teacher does.
However, Daviess County Commissioner Critten did take a firm stance about future oversight of Hadley’s jail management. "We will hold his feet to the fire," Mr. Critten said, "and he will answer and suffer consequences." DeKalb County Sheriff Wes Raines summarized details about the jail break in response to a question. Two women conspired to leave wire cutters outside the recreation fence prior to the day of the escape. It was not explained why no one saw the wire cutters lying there for so long.
Hadley said 19 prisoners were in the recreation yard, including convicted murderer Carlos Sarmiento. Missing inmates were not discovered during counts supposedly taken before, during and after the movement of the prisoners. A body count determined that three people were missing. A body custody count was then taken.
Hadley said the prisoners escaped between 6:33 and 7:30-7:45 p.m. Hadley had gone home during all of this, and he was notified that the prisoners had escaped at 8:05 p.m.
Citizens at the meeting questioned why a convicted murderer was allowed in the rec yard with the general prison population. Mr. Hadley described Carlos Sarmiento as polite and one of the better behaving prisoners. This prompted another citizen to suggest that Hadley was being set up by Sarmiento, and that Hadley wasn’t smart enough to figure that out.
Another question suggested that the jail administrator should be required to reside in this county, the idea being that he might then care more to get information to the public sooner whenever a jail break occurred.
David Daniel said he ought to send the county a bill for housing the prisoners on his property for two days. He noted that the best scenario had been played out regarding the escape since nothing serious actually happened this time.
Another citizen asked about the guidelines for the recreation area. Hadley replied that the rec area is considered a maximum security bay under the supervision of two guards. Just how well the prisoners were actually being watched is a matter of speculation, he said.
One of the guards discharged after the incident said there was only one officer on guard at the time of the escape. He claimed the jail is understaffed, that complaints taken to supervisors are not heeded, and problems are ignored.
It was visitation day at the jail on the day of the escape. Four guards were on duty to watch 140 prisoners that day.
Another question focused on the bottom of the fence as a weak point in the scheme of the jail security. Wire cutters can be used to breach through the entire fence. Apparently there was no camera recording activity in the rec yard or, if there was one, it isn’t working.
Others voiced complaints about poor communications. Many rural residents were unaware of the prisoners’ escape and nobody seemed in charge of the manhunt. Some high school students reportedly used spotlights on pickups to drive through fields in search of the escapees. Shots were fired, shots at these kids, whose defense was simply to yell, "We’re not poachers! We’re not poachers!"
It is not known whether people armed and participating in the manhunt were properly trained, raising fears that people involved in the manhunt were apt to shoot first and ask questions later.
Daviess County Sheriff Ben Becerra offered an apology, but said he couldn’t control what individuals did without his knowledge. He suggested that something needs to be put in place to improve communications.
Later in the meeting, it was suggested that residents could be notified by phone or by text caster of an escape, or perhaps that a different siren could be sounded to declare emergencies such as jail breaks. Another person at the meeting, who identified herself as a fire department worker, said she found out about the escape on Facebook even before the fire department was notified.
When a citizen declared that jail gates were shut for the first time on the day of this meeting (Oct. 29), more questions focused on jail procedures. Citizens asked why visitors entering the jail are not routinely searched and why inmate phone calls are not more frequently monitored. Jail board members responded that visitors at the jail will be subject to search from this time forward. A fence will also be constructed to separate the parking lot from the prisoners rec area.
John Silkett, superintendent of Pattonsburg R-2 High School, voiced concern about the safety of 170 Pattonsburg school students. He was particularly disturbed to send out buses on rural routes while escapees roamed freely. His request was for the school to be notified even when prisoners were properly released from Pattonsburg jail, and especially if prisoners are released with no apparent means of transportation.
This prompted more criticism. People throughout the Pattonsburg community have repeatedly complained about the jail prisoner release policies. During the Oct. 29 meeting, stories were repeated about stolen cars and inmates entering local businesses needing help, asking to use a telephone.
"Released prisoners don’t know where they are or where they’re to go," said one citizen at the meeting. "They don’t know where the bank or the gas station is …they don’t even know where Pattonsburg is. They’re lost and screwed up."
Frustrations sometimes spewed personal. One citizen accused jail administrator Larry Hadley of lying during a television interview when he said jail prisoners were not allowed out after dark. Local residents claim to see prisoners outside the jail building after dark. Another citizen’s comment was physically threatening.
One jail board member noted that previous to this incident, no one appeared before the board to criticize Hadley or criticize jail operations. This prompted a citizen to respond that it isn’t the public’s responsibility to file conduct and operational reports; that is Hadley’s responsibility.
Discussion then focused on jail board inspections practices. The question was whether and how board members actually conducted their own "walk-through" inspections of the prison.
Commissioner Critten said he personally conducted three unscheduled walk-through inspections of the jail in regards to a complaint that the jail was filthy. He found that complaint unsubstantiated. He also said that as a group, the jail board had conducted one walk-through inspection.
Another citizen asked, how many lawsuits had been brought against the jail since it had settled out of court on a complaint? The answer: several are pending.
One citizen pointed to the 47 jobs created by the jail, that the problems it causes simply need to be fixed. But most people around Pattonsburg wish the jail wasn’t there. The community’s perception, it was said, is that no one operating the jail cares what people in the community think. Hope was expressed that operation of the jail was for more than just the money it creates for the host counties.
Jail board members stated they are considering the construction of an indoor rec facility for prisoners. If revenue were available, the jail could operate bus transportation to deliver released prisoners to their county of previous residence. But inmate population, and thus revenue, is on the decrease.
The jail at Pattonsburg lost population when Polk County (averaging 150 inmates) and Wyandotte County (averaging 70 inmates) discontinued. Fewer inmates means a smaller staff and fewer jobs are created.
Listing of previous escapes…
Midwest Security Housing in Pattonsburg opened on Feb. 8, 2002. The jail was privately owned by Ron and Pam Huston. This was in operation for four years until 2006. During that time five prisoners escaped on two separate occasions.
On April 27, 2003, a Polk County, Iowa, inmate, Cory Bruce Dresch, escaped from the jail with help from other prisoners by slipping under the fence during recreation time. He was captured two days later in Des Moines.
Four Polk County, Iowa, inmates escaped on Sept. 4, 2003. Two inmates were captured the same day in Iowa, and another was arrested the following day. But one inmate remained at large. Authorities captured Craig L. Miles, 19, Des Moines, and William B. Telleen, 28, also believed to be from Des Moines, after they crashed a van in a residential area of Des Moines the morning of Sept. 4. A third escapee, William M. (Jerry) Jones, 23, was arrested on Sept. 5. Justin J. Reiba, 21, was at large and was later captured.
On Feb. 16, 2006, paperwork was completed that finalized the purchase of Midwest Security Housing in Pattonsburg by the Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail District. A half-cent sales tax was approved on Nov. 8, 2005, to fund the purchase of Midwest Security Housing for $3.5 million. (It should be noted that the vote did not pass in Daviess County.) The purchase included all property, inventory, equipment and transportation vehicles. During the past four years, there have been four escapes by seven inmates.
Abdul Jackson escaped on May 25, 2007, and was captured on May 30. Jackson had been in the recreation yard outside the jail for a smoke break when he scaled a concrete wall and went through razor wire and then got into a waiting vehicle. He was captured by authorities in Des Moines, Iowa, late Wednesday, May 30.
John M. Rupp escaped on July 23, 2007, and was captured on July 24. He escaped by tunneling under the fence where the ground was soft from recent rains.
Two prisoners escaped the annex building on Jan. 25, 2008, by removing the inside metal siding and sheet rock under a bunk and then working through the outside metal. They were captured the same day. The escapees were Jeffrey Renfro, 22, Kansas City, and John Eskridge, 19, Gallatin. Inmates were being housed inside the annex of the prison, which is a metal-sided building, not the main jail. The escapees were on the lam about 90 minutes. After abandoning their vehicles the two men were found by officers hiding in a creek bed.
Three inmates, one a convicted murderer, went on the run on Sunday evening, Oct. 24, 2010. The men escaped from an exercise yard about 8 p.m., where they used wire cutters to get through the fence. Nicholas McCleary was apprehended at about 12:15 p.m. the following Tuesday a few miles northwest of Pattonsburg after someone called to report a suspicious person walking along a road. Carlos Sarmiento and Timothy Baudour were apprehended in a barn located near 130th and Bean Avenue approximately five miles northwest of Pattonsburg.