MONDAY, 05 MARCH 2012 18:35 RAYMOND V. WHELAN • TRIBUNE STAFF
AUSTIN — The Burnet County Jail has flunked a state inspection that found design flaws in the wake of an escape March 1 by an inmate who chiseled a hole in the wall.
The state report says the private-public jail, which opened with 587 beds in April 2009 at a cost of $23 million, is "non-compliant" with security standards. "It means something iswrong," County Judge Donna Klaeger said March 5. The Burnet County Sheriff's Office supervises the jail, which is operated by the private firm LaSalle Southwest Corrections. Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspectors recently found "deficiencies" in the network of concrete blocks and reinforcement bars that support walls near cells for handicapped inmates, Executive Director Adan Munoz said.
It is in one of the handicapped cells that Johnny Angel Ybarra, 40, removed a rail by a toilet and chiseled away at cinder blocks under a sink until he created an escape route, investigators said. He hid his handiwork by hanging towels to dry over the sink and replacing the rail before guards noticed it was missing, they added.
"Those cells are unpopulated now," Klaeger said.
Hale Mills Construction built the jail at 900 County Lane three years ago. County Commissioner Bill Neve said he plans to meet Hale Mills builders March 6 at the jail, along with Sheriff W.T. Smith and LaSalle officials. "We are going to talk about construction issues related to the jail," Neve added. Also, the commissioners plan to hear a jail security update during the meeting March 13, Klaeger said.
Neither Smith nor LaSalle officials could be reached for comment March 5. On Feb. 14, Ybarra pleaded guilty to three felony charges including burglary with the intent to commit a sexual offense, burglary of a habitation with intent to commit another felony and assault-family member/impeding breath or circulation, according to court records. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. While awaiting transfer to a state prison, he made his escape, officials said.
According to investigators, after tearing a hole in the wall beneath the sink in his cell, Ybarra climbed to the roof and completed his escape by crawling through razor wire. Law enforcement officials recaptured Ybarra in Burnet about three hours after his escape. He has since been transferred to a state facility. Ybarra was the second escapee from the jail in more than two years. Nuana Antonio Fuentes-Sanchez, a 25-year-old Salvadoran national, escaped from the jail in August 2009. He was recaptured in San Antonio last summer.
He is awaiting trial in a home invasion and rape case.
raymond@thepicayune.com
AUSTIN — The Burnet County Jail has flunked a state inspection that found design flaws in the wake of an escape March 1 by an inmate who chiseled a hole in the wall.
The state report says the private-public jail, which opened with 587 beds in April 2009 at a cost of $23 million, is "non-compliant" with security standards. "It means something iswrong," County Judge Donna Klaeger said March 5. The Burnet County Sheriff's Office supervises the jail, which is operated by the private firm LaSalle Southwest Corrections. Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspectors recently found "deficiencies" in the network of concrete blocks and reinforcement bars that support walls near cells for handicapped inmates, Executive Director Adan Munoz said.
It is in one of the handicapped cells that Johnny Angel Ybarra, 40, removed a rail by a toilet and chiseled away at cinder blocks under a sink until he created an escape route, investigators said. He hid his handiwork by hanging towels to dry over the sink and replacing the rail before guards noticed it was missing, they added.
"Those cells are unpopulated now," Klaeger said.
Hale Mills Construction built the jail at 900 County Lane three years ago. County Commissioner Bill Neve said he plans to meet Hale Mills builders March 6 at the jail, along with Sheriff W.T. Smith and LaSalle officials. "We are going to talk about construction issues related to the jail," Neve added. Also, the commissioners plan to hear a jail security update during the meeting March 13, Klaeger said.
Neither Smith nor LaSalle officials could be reached for comment March 5. On Feb. 14, Ybarra pleaded guilty to three felony charges including burglary with the intent to commit a sexual offense, burglary of a habitation with intent to commit another felony and assault-family member/impeding breath or circulation, according to court records. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. While awaiting transfer to a state prison, he made his escape, officials said.
According to investigators, after tearing a hole in the wall beneath the sink in his cell, Ybarra climbed to the roof and completed his escape by crawling through razor wire. Law enforcement officials recaptured Ybarra in Burnet about three hours after his escape. He has since been transferred to a state facility. Ybarra was the second escapee from the jail in more than two years. Nuana Antonio Fuentes-Sanchez, a 25-year-old Salvadoran national, escaped from the jail in August 2009. He was recaptured in San Antonio last summer.
He is awaiting trial in a home invasion and rape case.
raymond@thepicayune.com
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