THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060608
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LaFAY AND WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
``Human error,'' fog and an inmate's physical prowess led to the prison escape last month of a double murderer serving life without parole, Secretary of Public Safety Jerry W. Kilgore said Tuesday.
``Human error of this magnitude is inexcusable,'' Kilgore said in a statement distributed during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. A report about a state police probe into the escape was also distributed.
Geoffrey Alan Ward escaped from Powhatan Correctional Center Feb. 21 during his early morning work shift as a kitchen janitor. He was recaptured 30 hours later by correctional officers tipped off by a friend of Ward from whom he had sought help.
The Department of Corrections is investigating four unidentified correctional officers who may not have followed proper procedures during the hours before and after Ward's escape, Director Ronald Angelone said. Depending on the findings, he said, the employees could be fired or disciplined.
``When you work day in and day out, sometimes you just start getting a little lax,'' Angelone said in an interview Tuesday.
``The inmates are always there, they're always working hard, and, in this case, the inmate was trying to develop that false, well-behaved good worker inmate image so that if he's missing for a little while, you don't worry. An inmate will try and lull a staff member into a sense of false security. That happens, but it's not right. We train our officers to be vigilant.''
According to Tuesday's state police report, Ward - equipped with maps, a piece of a hacksaw blade, gloves and $200 in cash - got out by standing on top of a deep fryer in the kitchen and climbing into the vent above it.
He emerged onto a roof, took off his white kitchen uniform and jumped down to a lower roof, the report said. He then scaled five fences, two of which catapulted him to the other side with electrical shocks.
Two hours later, a correctional officer saw Ward's sweatshirt clinging to one of fences and alerted his supervisor. But the supervisor ``concluded the object was probably trash and took no further action,'' the report said.
Officers guarding Ward in the kitchen did not perform required half-hour head counts, Angelone said. As a result, Ward was not discovered to be missing until about 7:30 a.m. - three and a half hours after Ward told police he left.
In addition, the state police report noted, an officer assigned to kitchen duty on the night of Ward's escape was out of the area performing ``other assigned duties'' during the time Ward was shimmying up the vent. A second officer who came later to relieve the first officer did not see Ward or try to find him.
Security deficiencies at Powhatan - such as poor lighting in certain areas and inadequately equipped fences - may also have contributed to Ward's escape, the officials said. Although the deficiencies have shown up on department audits since 1991, money has not been available to remedy them, according to Angelone.
Recently, he said, Powhatan's warden was asked to come up with a plan to deal with the problems without spending any money. In the meantime, grating has been ordered for all unobstructed vents at Powhatan and other prisons. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Special to The Virginian-Pilot/File
Geoffrey Alan Ward, a double murderer, escaped from Powhatan
Correctional Center Feb. 21 during his early-morning work shift as a
kitchen janitor. He was recaptured 30 hours later by correctional
officers tipped off by a friend of Ward's.
KEYWORDS: ESCAPED PRISONERS MURDER by CNB