Officer Killed During Texas Prison Break

(AP)  Two inmates working in a prison field overpowered a female guard Monday and killed her when they ran her over in a stolen pickup truck as they fled, prison officials said.

One of the prisoners, John Ray Falk, was recaptured within the hour. The second, Jerry Martin, was found several hours later hiding in a tree after a manhunt that included a police helicopter, Stetson-hatted lawmen on horseback and bloodhounds.

Martin and Falk were working outside the Wynne Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice just north of Huntsville when they overpowered the officer about 10:30 a.m. along Interstate 45, took her weapons and stole a Huntsville city truck that was nearby, corrections department spokesman Jason Clark said.

"They ran over the officer," Clark said. "We can confirm she did die."

The guard, Susan Canfield, 59, had been a corrections officer for seven years, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

After the inmates took the truck, they at some point stole another vehicle and ditched it, too, Lyons said.

Martin, 37, had been imprisoned since 1997 and was serving a 50-year sentence for attempted murder. Falk, 40, had been serving a life sentence since 1986 for murder.

Based on his good disciplinary record in prison, Martin was classified as a minimum security inmate and assigned to do field work outside the prison under supervision.

"In this case, obviously, something went wrong," Lyons said. She said Martin did not appear to be hurt, and would face felony escape charges "at the very least."

The Wynne Unit, established in 1883, is one of the oldest in the Texas prison system. It holds about 2,600 inmates of various custody levels. The unit is about 80 miles north of Houston and shares about 1,500 acres with two other prisons that straddle the main freeway between Houston and Dallas.

Authorities in Utah were also searching for a pair of fugitives Monday after two convicted killers escaped from a county jail near the Utah-Wyoming border.

Danny Martin Gallegos, 49, and Juan Carlos Diaz-Arevelo, 27, escaped Sunday after jumping the fence at the Daggett County jail, about 120 miles east of Salt Lake City, said Jack Ford, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections. He said the men were discovered missing during an inmate count at 8 p.m. - six hours after they were last seen at the jail.

"Both men are considered dangerous. Do not approach," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Gallegos was convicted of aggravated murder in 1991. Diaz-Arevelo was convicted of murder and child abuse in 2006. Because of overcrowding, the two men had been transferred to the jail from the state prison, Ford said.

In north Georgia, a search ended for three inmates who escaped Sunday night from Fannin County Jail in Blue Ridge, authorities said. They were all in custody by Monday afternoon, Trooper Larry Schnall said.

[perimogi]

Help me out here, I am trying to get this, two convicted murders, violent people, who have no hope of seeing daylight, are trustees. Working outside the prison? Where is the guard on a tower with a gun? Whoever let this scenario play out should lose their job.

[aznyron-2009]

first I want to offer my sorrows to the family of that couragouis lady and second i do hope they get executed this time and to the poosters this is not about R or D or Lib or Cons. it about a life who was taken for no apparent reason other than those prisoners to escape so we all should join hands and pray for her family and then lynch those low lifes

[Netterz]

Forget the appeals, Texas has the death penalty, with an express lane, too bad some one decided life with out parole was better than the needle. I bet they feel diff now.

[Netterz]

I keep asking myself, and the do-gooders who beleive these people have ANY right or reason to live, are STILL alive, killing yet again, and sucking up precious money in the SEVERAL BILLIONS of $ range a YEAR to keep them alive, safe, healthy, with free legal, education, and rehab, clogging up our health care system and courts in phenominal extra billions.. WHY? We could resolve the deficit if they were all dead and gone. They took away some one elses rights completely, and ruined man lives with what they have done the moment THEY made to commit murder. They became judge and jury at that moment for some one else, why are they still breathing? Whats wrong with this picture?

[mcvet]

Wow first time I have ever heard of someone dying of equal rights. Hope that makes all you liberal do gooders happy.


Posted by retmilspouse at 09:49 PM : Sep 24, 2007
+ report abuse

Who are "Liberals" Sparky! You nazi''s at every chance spout garbage like this and it''s always amazed me that NOT ONE of you pointed headed MORONS can even give the meaning of the Word as it''s contained in Websters. Add to that the FACT that it was LIBERALS who created this great nation and the Generation we call the ''Greatest" was the most LIBERAL after the first. I''d say you need to clarify your hatred for this great nation and it''s greatest people. Sieg Heil Y''all.

[retmilspouse]

my2centss

Wow first time I have ever heard of someone dying of equal rights. Hope that makes all you liberal do gooders happy.

[retmilspouse]

A woman guard dead is all we need to know. There are just some jobs women should not be doing and guarding male low life is not one of them.

[my2centss]

"Whats a 60 year old guard doing watching a bunch of thugs by herself anyway."
Posted by Jettskiman at 09:38 PM : Sep 24, 2007

Heard of equal rights? Its the law.

[jettskiman]

Whats a 60 year old female guard doing watching a bunch of thugs anyway. Some of the other work crew guys should have helped her. Pieces of ***.

[jettskiman]

Whats a 60 year old guard doing watching a bunch of thugs by herself anyway. The warden has some answering to do.