|
|
| McLean County Jail Inmates Evacuated |
| By Bloomington Pantagraph |
| Published: 06/17/2003 |
|
Around 200 inmates at the McLean County, Ill., jail had to be transported to other facilities Sunday afternoon after power was knocked out when a transformer blew in the law and justice center. 'We can't see, we can't cook, the elevators don't work and we just don't have any power,' McLean County Sheriff Dave Owens said. 'We can't even get our radios recharged to be able to communicate with one another.' Prisoners were moved from the jail to the parking garage on Front Street located behind the jail. Officers from Bloomington and Normal police as well as the sheriff's department sealed off the area until the vehicles arrived to transport prisoners to various Department of Corrections facilities as well as to Sangamon, DeWitt, Tazewell, Ford, Livingston and Peoria county jails. No prisoners were injured while being held in the parking garage. They were moved without incident, Owens said. Police brought out K-9 dogs, rifles and pepper-spray-pellet guns to guard the prisoners. Owens said a precise inmate count was not available Sunday night, and he could not specify how many inmates were moved to each location. DeWitt County Sheriff Roger Massey said some of his officers took 25 inmates to the DeWitt County Correctional Facility late Sunday afternoon. McLean County officials had contacted him earlier in the day about the possibility of providing temporary housing for them after the fire. 'This puts us a little over capacity of 66 inmates but we've moved some people around and made some emergency arrangements,' said Massey. He said the prisoners could be in Clinton for several days. The DeWitt County jail houses local inmates and federal prisoners under contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think