Yakima commission probes jail escape

YAKIMA – The head of Yakima County’s jail said he’s not sure what was done to reinforce an air vent pried open in a jailbreak 11 years ago – much like another group of inmates did again last week.

Asked what measures were taken to reinforce the vents back in 1994, jail director Steve Robertson told county commissioners:

“I can’t figure out what the hell they did.”

In their first detailed public discussion about the methods involved in the Nov. 25 escape of nine inmates, jail officials told the Yakima County Commission on Friday that the vents on the roof have been “substantially” fortified, using better hardware than what was used after the previous escape.

Nevertheless, jail officials said long-term plans to bolster the security of the top floor have yet to be worked out.

Five of the nine inmates who escaped were recaptured on jail grounds. Two were apprehended the next day.

And two remain at large – one charged with assault, the other burglary.

A day before the escape, jail officials said, inmates used a mop handle to punch a hole through the ceiling, then concealed it using a mix of plaster and paint chips.

One of them – officials didn’t say who – then got up into the ceiling and explored weaknesses in the vents to the roof, while other inmates made a makeshift rope using some 30 bedsheets, wetted-down socks and blankets.

A section of pipe was used to pry away the screws affixing the grate made of rebar in the vent.

Commissioner Mike Leita called the jail’s ceiling the facility’s “Achilles heel” and a likely source of escape attempts in the future.