Work-Release Inmate Escaped Temporarily in Lake County, 11/9/2009

[rambone]

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Staff shortage blamed for brief inmate escape


CROWN POINT | Lake County police blame staff shortages in the sheriff's work-release program for permitting an inmate to escape late Monday morning.

Police said Jamel Scott, 38, of 2204 W. 19th Ave., Gary, slipped away from a 13-man work detail outside the Lake County Government Complex, 2293 N. Main St., stole a bicycle from a nearby residence and was pedaling north on Merrillville Road when county and Merrillville police officers cornered him outside the Meijer store at 611 U.S. 30, Merrillville.

"We are looking into how this happened, but I know how he got away. There was only one unarmed custody officer trying to oversee 13 inmates," Lake County Police Chief Marco Kuyachich said. "We always used to have two, but we are down three custody officers now. We keep working with the County Council in the hope they will let us fill vacant positions."

County government has been under a hiring freeze since July 2008, which requires elected officials to get council permission to fill full-time jobs. The county must trim as many as 150 jobs from its payroll by year's end because of declining revenue and state-mandated property tax caps.

The council is set to meet this morning to vote on a request by the sheriff to fill several vacant staff positions for his work-release center, a minimum-security facility designed to relieve overcrowding in the Lake County Jail.

Kuyachich said Scott was being held at the work-release center by order of Gary City Judge Deidre Monroe while he awaits trial on criminal mischief allegations. Gary was forced last year to close its city jail because of the state tax caps.

"Despite being understaffed, we are still trying to provide the services we normally do, including maintaining county property," Kuyachich said. "The work detail was just about to break for lunch when he managed to drift off.

"One of our garage mechanics was coming down 93rd Avenue, saw him pedaling a bicycle he had stolen. Officers managed to stop him on Merrillville Road. He dumped his bicycle and took off on foot, and officers apprehended him."

Kuyachich said Scott is being held in the Lake County Jail, and police will seek escape charges against him.

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[Greatestsin]

Staff shortage? Then why did they reject my app?

 

[smiley69_300]

Cause the county and state are broke. But thanks an ok place to make cuts I guess.

 

[public servant]

Walk-aways from work release programs are fairly common in Marion County. Most are unsupervised anyway. They just find something better to do after work and don't report back in.