2005-11-07
Nov 7, 2005 at 6:15am
Post by CCADP on Nov 7, 2005 at 6:15am
Lock 'em up, throw away key -- Randall County jail has first escape
How does the saying go - that there's a first time for everything?
Well, Randall County law enforcement officials wish the 1st-ever escape from the county's new jail never had arrived.
Mark Edward Hanson broke out of the lockup this past Friday and was on the loose for 12 hours before police officers and sheriff's deputies corralled him in Amarillo.
He is charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting death of a man whose body was found in January.
Prosecutors had planned to seek life in prison for Hanson, but then he broke out - and only after assaulting a corrections officer in an earlier escape attempt.
District Attorney James Farren said Hanson has "clearly demonstrated" that he is a threat to society, so now the prosecutor is going to seek the death penalty if Hanson is convicted of capital murder.
This episode serves as a major wakeup call for the sheriff's department. Jailers thought they were putting Hanson into a secure "hardened" cell after the assault on the officer.
They were mistaken. And to his immense credit, Sheriff Joel Richardson is taking full responsibility for the mistake.
Moreover, the county is taking steps to prevent the second and subsequent escape from the jail.
The sheriff's department has learned the hard way about just how enterprising jail inmates can become with all that idle time on their hands.
(source: Editorial, The Amarillo Globe-News)