Kansas inmates removed from county jails after 4 escape; 2 still at large, reports say
(CBS/AP) TOPEKA, Kan. - All Kansas inmates in county jails have been moved back to a state facility, after four prisoners escaped from the Ottawa County lockup, including a convicted murderer who remains at large, the Department of Corrections said Thursday.
Department spokesman Jeremy Barclay said the decision was made after four inmates escaped Wednesday morning from the Ottawa County Jail in Minneapolis, Kansas, where they had been transferred because of overcrowding at a state prison in Ellsworth.
The inmates, armed with homemade knives, overpowered guards after complaining about a broken water line in the holding cell area, Ottawa County Sheriff Keith Coleman told The Salina Journal.
He said the inmates were able to open the cell doors and make their way outside. The guards suffered only minor injuries.
Two of the four inmates who escaped were apprehended Wednesday, one after he turned himself in at a Walmart in Nebraska.
The other two, 22-year-old inmates Santos Carrera-Morales and Eric James, remained missing Thursday. Carrera-Morales was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with two killings in 2007.
Police warned that James and Carrera-Morales should be considered armed and dangerous, and that they may not be traveling together. Authorities acknowledged they were not sure where they might be headed but that they could be in or near to North Platte, Neb., after another inmate turned up there.
Twenty-two inmates were transferred from the state prison in Ellsworth in January to help alleviate overcrowding - a prickly issue in Kansas. Barclay said transfers are decided case-by-case. James and Carrera-Morales had medium-security status, based on individual evaluations when they entered the prison system, he said.Overcrowding in Kansas' prisons has been exacerbated in recent years by closures and budget cuts. Inmate counts earlier this year showed men's prisons are housing 8,635 inmates, 266 over capacity.