Now that two inmates who escaped from the Yazoo County Correctional Facility are back in custody, Sheriff Jake Sheriff is focused on how they escaped and how to keep it from happening again.
Sheriff said the inmates had to have a tool capable of cutting the heavy fence wire, and he wants to know how they got it. Surveillance video revealed that Richard Johnson and Reginald Luckett cut a fence with razor wire along the top of it before scaling an exterior fence.
“They looked like rabbits on the video,” Sheriff said. “Three hops, and they were out.”
There is a walkway between the two fences that is patrolled by a guard, but the guard was on the other side of the facility when Johnson and Luckett made their escape.
Over 15 minutes passed before it was discovered that Johnson and Luckett had escaped.
Sheriff said he doesn’t understand why the guard in the tower did not observe the inmates scaling the fence.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Sheriff said.
Johnson, who has a long history of trouble with local law enforcement, was captured the same afternoon when officers found him hiding under a nearby house. Sheriff said he believes Johnson had someone waiting in a car to take him out of town.
It was not Johnson’s first attempt to escape from the local jail. Several years ago he broke out of the jail and nearly drowned after attempting to swim across the Yazoo River cutoff at Jonestown.
Johnson is currently facing charges related to the death of 33-year-old Keondra Williams. Williams was murdered outside of Oakhaven Apartments. The mother of three young children was shot in the head and chest while sitting in her car.
Luckett was caught the next day after escaping. He was found hiding at Lintonia Apartments.
Luckett was being held on burglary charges.
On Friday the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors expressed interest in helping secure the jail.
Board President Cobie Collins said the county might be able to purchase some razor wire for the exterior fence, even if it’s only for the area that has been the biggest problem for escape attempts.
Sheriff said there are several issues at the jail. He said the facility’s management believes the jail is understaffed, and there are other security issues.
The most notable security problem Sheriff described was inmates figuring out how to open the locked doors to their cells. He said “popping” the locks can be as easy as placing wet paper towels in the door jam and waiting for the paper towels to expand.
“They can be on you in a second,” Sheriff said.
