This past Saturday night, 4 inmates at the Raymond Detention Center in Mississippi escaped through breaches in a cell and the roof of the building.
Hinds County Sheriff, Tyree Jones, believes that the four men could have camped out on the roof to gather themselves before fleeing the detention center grounds and going their own ways. The escaped prisoners include Casey Grayson, Corey Harrison, Jerry Raynes, and Dylan Arrington. Each were in the facility due to mostly theft related felony charges.
Last July a federal judge attempted to order a takeover of the Raymond Detention Center because the lack of supervision and staffing has led to “a stunning array of assaults, as well as deaths.” District Judge Carlton Reeves included in his ruling that 7 convicts died just last year while in the facility, guards are sleeping instead of monitoring security cameras, and the cells have problems with the doors locking as well as exceptionally dim lighting making life “miserable for the detainees” and quite difficult for guards to manage “adequately surveilling detainees.”
Someone was set to take over the facility in January of this year, however on January 1st the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the lower courts and ruled to reconsider the takeover. In December, Sheriff Jones said that the county officials were making their best efforts to fix the problems Judge Reeves witnessed and that many of the problems they face are due to staffing shortages.
There are multiple law enforcement agencies assisting in the search around the state of Mississippi this week and residents have been advised to “keep your doors locked and have no keys or weapons in your vehicles.” They believe that Dylan Arrington is involved in the killing and theft of 61-year-old Anthony Watts that occurred on Monday night. Watts was shot multiple times and his red Dodge Ram was stolen, leaving him to pass away at the scene. Investigators gathered enough information for Jackson Police Chief James E. Davis to believe that it was Arrington.
One of the other escaped prisoners stole a Hinds County Public Works vehicle that was later recovered outside of Houston, TX. They also believe one of the escapees has stolen a Chevy Silverado. Police are asking Mississippi residents to be on the lookout and to notify police of “anything that appears to be suspicious. . . No information at this point is too small to provide to law enforcement.” With four prisoners on the run, none having been found yet, Raymond Detention Center may be back under some heat.