Two escapees walked out of the D.C. Jail’s main gates June 3 wearing correctional officers’ uniforms hidden for them by a jail guard, key sources told The Examiner.
Joseph Leaks and Ricardo Jones, awaiting trial in a fatal shooting last summer, broke out of the jail when they smashed a window in the warden’s office with an 80-pound floor buffer. Authorities initially said that the escapees were probably wearing the dark blue jumpsuits commonly given to inmates upon their release.
But sources Tuesday said that the men were in fact decked out in guard uniforms. Authorities said they believe the men got the uniforms from a female guard who left them in a guards’ locker room on the administrative side of the jail, where Leaks, 32, had been assigned to a painting detail. Jones, 25, had been given a pass to the infirmary, which is on the third floor of the administrative side, said Beverly Young, spokeswoman for the D.C. Department of Corrections.
The break came just four months into the tenure of Corrections Director Devon Brown, whose reputation for reforming crippled jail systems was desperately sought by city officials. Critics say D.C.’s jails have been mismanaged and plagued by corruption, and neighbors in the Hill East area of $600,000 and $700,000 homes are outraged that they weren’t better informed about the escapes.
The two men linked up outside the warden’s office, smashed out the window, scampered down an awning and ran out the front gate. They were chased by a guard who was just coming on duty, but the jail’s siren — supposed to alert neighbors of a jail break — never sounded.
New jail director Brown addressed the public in a forum in Hill East Monday night and took several questions from angry residents who say they’ve been played for fools by the department.
And they’ve been joined by some elected officials.
“I very much want an explanation of what occurred,” said Phil Mendelson, D-at large, chair of the District Council’s Judiciary Committee.
His panel will open hearings on the matter next week. Mendelson attended Monday’s Hill East meeting and said he wasn’t happy with the answers Brown gave thepublic.
“The bottom line is we put people in jail and they’re not supposed to get out,” he said.
Leaks and Jones were recaptured separately the day after their escape.
