On Tuesday, a District Council member accused officials at the D.C. Jail of “hiding” behind a criminal investigation to prevent an embarrassing review of the June jailbreak from becoming public.
It’s been more than a month since new jails Director Devon Brown promised to wrap up an internal investigation “in two weeks.” Now, Brown is telling D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson that he has handed the results of his investigation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is conducting its own criminal investigation.
Mendelson, D-at large, said that isn’t very encouraging.
“I don’t want to interfere with a criminal investigation,” he said, “but it’s easy for local officials to hide behind a criminal investigation.”
A source tells The Examiner that in fact, jail officials haven’t handed anything toprosecutors.
Mendelson said he spoke with City Manager Robert Bobb during the weekend and that neither man was satisfied with the pace of the internal jails investigation.
Jail officials did not return a call seeking comment.
Joseph Leaks and Ricardo Jones broke out of the D.C. Jail on June 3 after smashing a window in the warden’s office and scampering down a canopy. Nine jail officials, including a high-ranking administrator who approved a work pass that allowed Jones to move from his cell to the warden’s office, have been placed on administrative leave.
Sources familiar with the investigation say that Jones and Leaks were wearing jail guards’ uniforms left for them under the liner of a garbage can in the female guards’ locker room.
Suspicion has fallen on jail guards, including the woman who left the uniforms, but none of the guards have been interviewed by prosecutors, sources say.
They’re set to go on trial in November.
