Jail security

Leave it to crafty inmates to figure out the weaknesses in the security systems in place at the Cape Girardeau County Jail. The jail, which opened six years ago, has never had a serious breach in security. But a couple of federal prisoners being housed in the jail by the U.S. Marshals Service found a weakness in the system, one that appears to have been both a mechanical and a human failure.

The sheriff's department had already asked for bids to upgrade the jail's security cameras, and those bids were received just three days after the two inmates were, with the assistance of other inmates, able to enter a pod where women prisoners are kept. They apparently spent several hours there before being discovered.

Upgraded security cameras and a more vigilant jail guard probably would have prevented last week's breach. Sheriff John Jordan says the new camera equipment will have a high priority. At stake is approximately $1,000 a day the jail is losing in revenue from the U.S. Marshals Service, which removed 19 of its 29 prisoners in the jail. That income is used to offset the repayment of bonds used to build the jail.

The quicker this is resolved, the better for everyone.