CONWAY - Two jail officers were fired Friday for not properly checking a Faulkner County jail recreational yard from which three inmates escaped last month, the chief deputy sheriff said.
The inmates, who were eventually captured, escaped on the afternoon of Aug. 17, when they pulled back a corner of a chain-link fence, broke through a locked chain-link gate and jumped over a barbed-wire fence, Faulkner County sheriff’s office Chief Deputy Matt Rice said. Rice identified the fired jailers as Seth Ferguson and Christina Jordan. Both have the right to appeal, Rice said.
“They weren’t following policies and procedures,” Rice said. “They weren’t checking the recreation yard like they should.”
He said he thought the jailers were required to check the yard every 30 minutes. “They weren’t doing that,” he said. Had they checked more often, he said, the officers might have prevented the escape or realized the men had escaped sooner. Rice said the inmates were probably gone 30 to 45 minutes before authorities knew they were missing.
“That’s way too long,” he said.
Two of the inmates - Joel Vermillion, 28, of Mayflower and Stacy Wilson, 41, of Vilonia - were taken back into custody Aug. 19. The third inmate, Jonathan Jackson, 24, of Greenbrier, was arrested Aug. 20.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 09/21/2013