Lillie Danzy, front left, mother of escaped inmate Charles Walker, with her husband, Jeff Danzy, second from left, and family supporters and members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office listen as Henry Pearson, center, uncle of escaped inmate Joseph Jenkins, makes a plea for his nephew to turn himself in to authorities during a news conference in Orlando, Fla. Joseph Jenkins, photo front left, and Charles Walker, photo front right, two convicted killers freed by bogus paperwork, are at large.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – At least seven inmates in Florida have used forged documents in attempts to escape from prison, including two killers who were mistakenly freed because of the paperwork, authorities said Tuesday.
Police said they were looking at several suspects in the investigation of the escape of Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, but so far they have made no arrests. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey said the prisoners were not cooperating.
“In law enforcement terms, they’ve lawyered up,” Bailey said. “But we will find the details of what led to these escapes without their help, but should they choose to cooperate, we will have the answers that we need, the answers that we demand sooner rather than later.”
Jenkins and Walker were let out of a Panhandle prison on Sept. 27 and Oct. 8, respectively, because of fake paperwork that reduced their life sentences to 15 years, authorities said. It was Jenkins’ second time trying to escape with forged papers. He failed in 2011, Bailey said.
Jenkins and Walker were captured Saturday at a Panama City motel. Authorities found an iPad and cellphone there, and they were reviewing them for evidence. Police also want to know how the men got to the motel and who was coming from Atlanta to take them somewhere else.