D.C.’s troubled jail has been ordered to reinstate the 11 officers fired in the wake of a daring escape.
The jail was ordered to reinstate the officers after administrative law judges ruled — in separate decisions that began coming down last week — officials had violated the officers’ due process rights, said Cpl. Nila Ritenour, chair of the officers’ union.
“We’ve won them all,” she told The Examiner.
The jail fired the group after inmates Joseph Leaks and Ricardo Jones — supposed to be locked up as they awaited trial in a homicide — burst out of the jail in broad daylight in June, wearing partial uniforms of jail employees.
An internal review found the pair was helped by officers as they made their way out of their wards, across the compound to the warden’s office. Once there, they broke out a window with a floor buffer and scampered down an awning.
They were quickly recaptured. But the escape embarrassed new jail Director Devon Brown, who had been brought in to reform the crippled system.
Ritenour said the reinstatement of the officers is another blow to Brown’s credibility.
“Management, they always want to make the public think that the employees are at fault,” she said. “But in reality, it’s the management. And we’re tired of paying for management’s mistakes.”
Residents in the upscale Hill East neighborhood were outraged that the jail’s sirens didn’t sound, alerting the neighbors to a jail break.
The jail can appeal the judge’s order, Ritenour said. Officials have until 4 p.m. today to do so, she said.
Jail spokeswoman Beverly Young said the 11 officers “are not currently employed.” She refused to say whether that meant that her agency was appealing the order.
A grand jury continues to review evidence in the escape.
Sources familiar with the investigation said authorities are focusing on two officers — one of them a woman who hid clothes that bore markings of jail officers.
The inmates wore those clothes as they strolled off the jail’s grounds, an internal review found.
