Idaho inmate at large in Texas
BOISE – One of two Idaho inmates who escaped Monday from a privately run prison in Texas was quickly recaptured while authorities used tracking dogs and helicopters to search for the other. The men scaled a recreation yard fence.
Orlando Gonzalez-Leon, 27, serving up to 50 years on a second-degree murder conviction, was returned to custody about 90 minutes after the prison break in which the pair took advantage of a distraction in another part of the Newton County Correctional Center in Newton, Texas.
Rudolfo Garcia-Lopez, 38, serving up to 20 years on aggravated assault and attempted kidnapping charges, remained at large Monday night.
The prisoners are among about 450 inmates who have been sent out of state since last October to help ease overcrowding at Idaho facilities. Over the last decade, the number of Idaho inmates has doubled to nearly 7,000, leaving the state with about 1,000 fewer beds than it needs. In addition to 419 prisoners in Texas, about 30 Idaho inmates are at a prison in Minnesota.
Teresa Jones, an Idaho Correction Department spokeswoman, said the prison break occurred after guards were called to a separate wing of the prison.
She was uncertain what caused the distraction. “There were 25 Idaho inmates outside in the recreation yard,” she said.
The pair’s escape is just the latest in a string of incidents involving Idaho inmates at the prison run by Geo Group Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla. Idaho officials have traveled several times to the former county jail in Newton to scrutinize the operation.
On April 7, six Idaho inmates complained of abuse, and one supervisor was fired and a guard was demoted after an investigation.
On May 30, another inmate was doused with pepper spray.
And last weekend, 85 Idaho inmates staged a strike, demanding butter for rolls, more TV channels and cheaper prices at the prison commissary.
Before Monday’s prison break, Pam Sonnen, administrator of operations for the Department of Correction, had said that Idaho officials were again flying to Texas to review training procedures for guards. Geo is also sending a staff member to the facility, according to a news release.
“We just want to be 100 percent sure about the training provided to staff in Texas,” Sonnen said. “Use of force should always be a last resort to gain inmate compliance.”
Idaho corrections officials who have been to the Texas facility said it doesn’t have the amenities of prisons in Idaho.
It meets Idaho requirements, but “it’s a very different cultural atmosphere than Idaho,” said Jones, adding that disgruntled inmates unhappy with the move to Texas are one cause of the incidents. Last October, 302 Idaho inmates volunteered to be sent to a Geo-run prison in Minnesota.
Earlier this year, however, Minnesota corrections officials demanded that those prisoners make way for incoming inmates from Minnesota. That forced Idaho officials to look for alternatives, finally settling on the Newton County facility. About 270 inmates of the Idaho inmates in Minnesota were then sent to Texas, with another 150 sent directly from Idaho to Texas.
“When we went to Minnesota, a majority were volunteers who wanted a change of scenery. They thought a different atmosphere might be nice,” Jones said. “In the second grouping of inmates, there were no volunteers.”
Idaho prison officials forecast that 1,400 Idaho prisoners will shipped to facilities outside of the state by 2010, based on current population growth estimates.
The state is planning a new 300-bed, $16 million facility at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise, plus a 400-bed, privately run substance-abuse treatment center. It’s unclear when the two new facilities will be ready.