by SEAN KIMMONS
New felony escape charges will be handed to two prisoners who broke free from Hays County Jail early Nov. 24. The fugitives were recaptured within hours after an ensuing manhunt, Sheriff Gary Cutler said Monday.
James Roland Moore, 38, and Francisco Chavez Medina, 31, escaped from the jail’s kitchen area through a roll-up door with access to the outside, authorities say.
The sheriff’s office is currently investigating security measures to deter another jailbreak. Cutler, who became sheriff in mid-November, said his office will assess the classification of inmates and overall security of the jail.
“We’re evaluating the entire incident right now,” Cutler said. “As far as any specific changes, I can’t go into that.”
A San Marcos police officer bringing in a suspect for booking witnessed the two men crawling through the door, scaling fences and running away at about 3 a.m., Hays County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Leroy Opiela said.
Around 6 a.m. both men were back in custody following a search that involved multiple law enforcement agencies. A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter used a thermal infrared video camera to locate the fleeing prisoners, Opiela said.
During the escape, the men knocked on the door of a nearby home asking for help. A man came to the door armed with a pistol and refused to assist them.
“He then called 911 and we got a better idea of where they were heading,” Opiela said.
Both fugitives were recaptured about a half-mile from the jail near the intersection of Salinas and Harris Hill Road. The men suffered minor cuts as they climbed a barbed wire fence and crossed through brushy areas, officials say.
Cutler said that both prisoners had been trustees on kitchen duty.
“They are not strictly supervised,” he said of jail trustees.
Kitchen duty tends to have a ratio of 12 inmates to one guard, with no guards watching the jail yard, Chief Deputy Jamie Page said. Deputies also said surveillance cameras do not face most of the jail’s fencing.
Cutler said that the cameras were not an issue, and the kitchen door has been welded shut until the internal investigation concludes. It is not known if any jail employees will be terminated as a result of the first prison escape in Hays County since 1989, Cutler said.
The two men had been awaiting trial after being arrested this summer, authorities say.
Moore, of Austin, was being held on felony charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Medina, of Kyle, is charged with the first-degree felony of continuous sexual abuse and faces an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, court records show.
