Santa Ana jail escapees likely had inside help, expert says
A security expert said he believes that three inmates who escaped from a Santa Ana, California, jail on Friday had assistance from someone on the inside.
The men cut through a metal grate, crawled through plumbing tunnels, sawed through steel bars, then used a rope made of bed linens to rappel down from the roof of the jail to freedom, authorities say. Kevin Tamez of the MPM Group, a firm that consults on prison security, said it's likely the inmates — Jonathan Tieu, 20; Bac Duong, 43; and Hossein Nayeri, 37 — were given blueprints to the Men's Central Jail or told about the layout. "If I were whoever's investigating, there are some people who would be on a polygraph, I guarantee you," he told The Associated Press. "They had to have had some inside help." A spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department said there is no evidence of any help from prison workers, but it hasn't been ruled out.
Others believe the security was too lax. "This summer we had this huge escape from Clinton Prison in New York," Martin Horn of the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice told AP, "and every prison or jail administrator in the country should have said to themselves, 'Huh, I wonder if I am vulnerable?' and should have checked their steam shafts and tunnels and every other thing that gives access to the outside." All three inmates stand accused of violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder, and torture, and it's unclear why there were in a dorm with more than 60 other inmates. They are still on the loose, and authorities believe Tieu and Duong are possibly hiding among Orange County's Vietnamese community.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
A Man on the Inside: Netflix comedy leaves you with a 'warm fuzzy feeling'
The Week Recommends Charming series has a 'tenderness' that will 'sneak up' on you
By The Week UK Published
-
Bread & Roses: an 'extraordinarily courageous' documentary
The Week Recommends Sahra Mani's 'powerful' film examines the lives of three Afghan women under the Taliban
By The Week UK Published
-
V13: a 'marvelous and terrifying' account of the Bataclan terror trials
The Week Recommends Emmanuel Carrère's work is 'absolutely gripping'
By The Week UK Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published