Two male inmates spend hours in women's section of county jail

Two male prisoners at the Cape Girardeau County Jail spent four hours in the cell pods housing female prisoners Monday morning, Sheriff John Jordan reported.

The prisoners, being held on federal charges, were able to slip past jailers and security cameras and gained help from other inmates distracting the guards to move from their cells to the female area of the jail, Jordan said.

As a result of the security breach, the U.S. Marshals Service removed 19 of the 29 federal detainees being held in the jail, including the two men, Jordan said. Whether the remainder will be moved is uncertain, he said.

"Some days are diamonds and some days are stone, and this was one of those stones," Jordan said.

The two men gained entrance to a cell block where a girlfriend of one of the men is also being held on federal charges. Jordan did not disclose the names of the inmates or the charges against them. No additional charges will be filed as a result of the security breach, Jordan said.

"We don't have all of the details yet," Jordan said. "We are pretty sure that we know what took place. One of them had been in there for almost a year, and he had time to sit and watch and look to find a weakness. We have been in this facility a little over six years, and this is the first time someone had figured out a way to steal away into another pod."

Moving to the pod housing female prisoners required a coordinated effort, Jordan said. Part of the ongoing investigation will seek to determine how they communicated with each other between the cell blocks. The men were discovered in the women's cell block by guards, but Jordan did not give details of how they were found out.

Jordan was reluctant to give details of what occurred once the men entered the women's portion of the jail. "I don't want to comment exactly on what took place, but there is some activity that went on," he said.

Housing federal prisoners provides a major portion of the money needed to support jail operations. The income pays the bond debt issued to build the jail. The federal government pays the county $50.82 per prisoner per day, and the county has a contract to keep 42 beds available.

Over the past year, the county has averaged 30 to 33 federal detainees per day, Jordan said.

The security issues exploited by the two inmates as they made their move include blind spots and low light in certain areas, Jordan said.

"It was really quite simple, and that is what is so disturbing about it," Jordan said. "Right now we consider it a security issue until we get it taken care of, and believe me, we are working on this."

Jordan was unable to predict when the security issues will be solved and a full contingent of federal prisoners will return.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126