SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Officials in a Northern California county have known for years that they have security problems with an antiquated jail and recently won $80 million in state funding to help build a new facility.
But before the work began, two prisoners escaped last week by cutting through the bars of a second-story window and rappelling to the ground using blankets. The men have been deemed dangerous by authorities and remain at large.
Officials say the men escaped from a dormitory that lacks security cameras and where guards stationed at one end of a hallway can’t easily see into individual cells.
In addition, they say, it’s so noisy that guards sometimes have trouble hearing what goes on inside the dorm.
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said there are now plans to install cameras.