Second escaped Mississippi inmate taken into custody in Texas
An inmate who escaped a Mississippi jail over the weekend has been captured and taken into custody in Texas, authorities said Thursday. Jerry Raynes was being held outside of Houston in Spring Valley, Texas, and will be extradited back to Mississippi, the Hinds County Sheriff's Office said.
Raynes and three others — Casey Grayson, Corey Harrison and Dylan Arrington — escaped from the Raymond Detention Center near Jackson, Mississippi's capital city, on Saturday night. Arrington, who was believed to be connected to the shooting death of a pastor following his escape and who police claimed shot an officer Wednesday morning, was found dead later that night following a fire in a building he had been barricaded in.
Harrison and Grayson were still on the loose Thursday night. Authorities did not provide any update on the ongoing search for the two. Raynes had been incarcerated for auto theft and burglary.
Police were called after someone spotted Raynes at a local hospital Thursday afternoon, according to CBS affiliate KHOU-TV. He had previously been seen on surveillance video at a gas station along Interstate 10 around that area, KHOU reported.
Raynes was taken into custody at a Houston hospital before he could be discharged after seeking treatment for an unspecified medical condition, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
The USMS, Harris County Sheriff's Office and Spring Valley Police Department all assisted in Raynes' apprehension, the Hinds County Sheriff's Office said.
"We're just glad an arrest was made," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told KHOU.
"He was taken into custody fairly rapidly and, so, we're glad, again, that it's over and that no one was hurt here in our community," Gonzalez added.
The four men are believed to have escaped from the Raymond Detention Center through breaches in a cell and the roof. Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said the men might have camped out on the roof before fleeing and going their separate ways.
In July, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ordered a rare takeover of the Raymond jail after he said deficiencies in supervision and staffing led to "a stunning array of assaults, as well as deaths." But before the appointed receiver was scheduled to assume control over the jail Jan. 1, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the lower court's order until it ruled on the county's motion for reconsideration.
The problems at the Raymond facility date back years. The U.S. Justice Department sued Hinds County in 2016 after finding unconstitutional conditions at the jail, including violence among detainees and by staff against detainees. It also found problems with the treatment of juveniles and suicidal detainees. And, it said, there were cell doors that would not lock.
The four escapees had been in custody for various felony charges, most involving theft.
The man Arrington is suspected of killing was Anthony Watts, a 61-year-old church pastor who was shot and killed Monday around 7 p.m. on Interstate 55 in Jackson after he pulled over to help a man who matched Arrington's description. That man shot Watts several times and then stole his Red Dodge Ram, police said. Watts died at the scene.
Arrington later broke into a home in Conway, Mississippi, where he shot a deputy, set the residence on fire and died.
