By C1 Staff
MADERA COUNTY, Calif. — Two Madera County supervisors sharply criticized the county’s corrections department Tuesday morning following last weekend’s escape of five inmates from the jail.
The Fresno Bee reports that Chief Manuel Perez said an internal investigation is underway by his department to determine whether his officers followed jail policies and procedures. A criminal investigation of the escape is also being conducted by the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re looking at all aspects of the escape,” Sheriff John Anderson said.
The investigation could reveal negligence or a criminal act by an employee, he said.
Supervisor Tom Wheeler said he was concerned why the residents in the jail’s vicinity (it sits on the southeast edge of the city of Madera) were not alerted through the county’s “reverse 911” system. Perez said the priority was to capture the escaped inmates.
“I am not familiar with the system,” he told supervisors. “With staffing available, our focus has to be on the apprehension.”
Anderson said the reverse 911 system should have been employed.
“I don’t know why they did not request it and we did not do it,” he said. “The people in the area should have been notified, but how often does an escape happen? … I can see how it fell through the cracks.”
Supervisor Max Rodriguez said that somebody in the jail failed to maintain security.
“You lost five people,” he said. “There were people with serious criminal backgrounds. It shouldn’t have ever happened. … Somebody goofed off. Find the culprit who didn’t do his job and get rid of him.”
Perez said staff will be “held accountable” for any deviation from normal procedures.
Rodriguez said he is also upset by the publicity the escape received and noted another low-level offender who worked in the jail’s kitchen escaped earlier this year. Perez said the employee responsible in that case failed to follow procedure and no longer works at the jail.
Perez also said his officers are covered by the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights and will be treated accordingly should anything turn up in the investigation that could lead to reassignment or dismissal.
Supervisor Manuel Nevarez said the criminal sophistication of inmates now in county jails since state prison realignment three years ago contributed to the escapes. But Anderson said he believes all five escapees are in the pretrial phases of their cases.
Supervisor David Rogers said the sole goal of some inmates is to “create problems,” but he said he didn’t lose “one second of sleep” because of the escape.
“I have complete confidence in our law enforcement and our corrections officers,” he said.
Perez agreed.
“The corrections officers are doing an outstanding job. Is it upsetting? Absolutely,” he said. “Number 1 (priority) was apprehension. Now we have to fix what’s going on.”