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| Off-duty jail deputy first discovered the escape |
| By whec.com |
| Published: 04/05/2011 |
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Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature are looking for answers about the escape of two inmates from the county's downtown jail last week. And now, The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the escapees. When Joseph Lee Mitchell and Eddie Palmer made a break from the jail Thursday night, I-Team 10 has now learned it was an off-duty jail deputy who first discovered the escape. He had just ended his shift and was in his car headed home, when he saw two suspicious men run across Plymouth Avenue in front of him from the direction of the jail. He immediately called in to report what he saw. Five days after the brazen escape from a second story window, I-Team 10 is also learning more about the area of the jail where the men were housed. Originally a records office and transport area, it was converted about 20 years ago to deal with overcrowding in the jail. It is now a two tiered inmate housing unit. I-Team 10 has learned the men cut through a bar in a cell window which gave them access a three foot pipe corridor that runs along the back of the cells. The window is the second one they breached from the pipe corridor to gain access to the outside. The Sheriff's Department has now cleared that housing area. At the time of the jailbreak, 35 to 40 inmates were in that unit. Now some in the county legislature want more information. Today, Legislator Willie Lightfoot, the ranking democrat on the public safety committee, sent a letter to County Executive Maggie Brooks asking that the Sheriff's Office provide a briefing to lawmakers at their next meeting on April 12. “It's really a matter of making sure we have all the information." Steve Eckel is also on the public safety committee. He says he would also like to know why the public wasn't notified immediately of the escape. “My key concern would be why was there a three hour delay in the notification of the public when the Sheriff’s Deputies in the office knew within 10 minutes what was going on." But the Sheriff's Department today defended its timing of the release of information to the public. A spokesperson told I-Team 10 their first response was a police response and once they confirmed the escape, they still had to secure the crime scene, do a head count of 1,000 inmates and search the jail housing unit and before notifying the public. Since the escape, investigators have questioned several friends and family members of the escapees and searched homes throughout the area. The Sheriff's Department says they are still getting tips and leads. They are also conducting an internal investigation to determine how palmer managed to get a cutting blade and a cell phone into the jail. Any individual with information as to the whereabouts of either of these fugitives should immediately contact the U.S. Marshals Service at: (585) 263-5787 or the Monroe County Sheriff's Department at (585) 753-4178. Read More. |
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