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| New Mexico Jail Inmate Breaks Out for Day |
| By Albuquerque Journal |
| Published: 04/20/2001 |
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While the Española City Council has delayed taking action on the troubled city jail, another jail inmate escaped recently and was not missed by jail staff for up to five hours, city police reported. The escape of 25-year-old Israel Montoya Jr. of Chimayó is the seventh escape from the 44-bed jail since August, more escapes than the Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and San Miguel county jails combined. Acting on an anonymous tip, Española police recaptured Montoya without incident at a Western Holiday Motel on the south side of the city. At the time of his escape, Montoya had 10 days left in jail for failing to comply with court-ordered restrictions from a shoplifting conviction. He now must serve an additional 90 days after being convicted of escape, city Detention Director Gene Aldaz said recently. Montoya had worked for more than two weeks as a trusty, an inmate allowed out of jail on work projects, Aldaz said. Montoya was working in the jail kitchen when he was last seen about 4 p.m. Saturday, April 7th. A jail officer called Española police about 9 p.m. after she discovered Montoya was missing following a head count, a police report stated. Aldaz said detention officers thought Montoya was working on another trusty assignment outside the jail so they did not realize he had been missing for several hours. Aldaz said he didn't know if the latest escape would affect the trusty program. 'If there is going to be a change in the trusty program, we're going to have to shut it down,' Aldaz said. 'We just can't predict when they decide they want to walk away.' Montoya walked away from the jail but was driving Saturday night after taking his father's 1983 Buick LeSabre without permission, a police report stated. Since August, seven inmates have escaped while under jail custody, with escapees kicking open the jail's back door, walking unnoticed out the front door, fleeing from the parking lot or the Española Hospital emergency room, or - in one case - simply not returning from an unescorted trip to the dentist. All of the escapees eventually were recaptured. |
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