BRICKEYS, Ark. (KTHV) -- The director of the Arkansas Department of Correction released details of the investigation into how a convicted killer escaped the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys earlier this month.
Wendy Kelley blamed complacency on the part of two armed guards and two construction supervisors that allowed Lloyd Jones to run off from a work detail on June 13.
"Post orders required that the security officer have the inmates in view at all times, and that didn't happen,” Kelley said in a news briefing. “Unfortunately the escape was the result of complacency by some of the staff."
The report had details on how Jones escaped.
The 40-year-old serving a first-degree murder term for killing a child in Sebastian County since 2012, was assigned to a work detail along with 15 other men that morning.
The construction crew would be moving a mobile home closer to the maximum security unit.
Two armed guards and two construction supervisors were assigned to oversee the crew.
By lunch time, those ADC employees became stretched too thinly. One guard took an inmate back to the unit for a medical appointment. The two construction supervisors ended up returning together to the unit with two inmates to work on another part of the day’s project.
That left one guard overseeing 13 inmates.
As lunch wrapped up, Jones joined three other inmates to go back to work. The task called for someone to go underneath the mobile home, taking at least one of the men out of the view of the lone guard.
That’s when Jones saw a chance to run. He managed to make it to a swampy, wooded area nearby. The guard did a head count and determined Jones had escaped. Other agencies kept Jones contained to the area before catching him about three miles away four days later.
“This escape was caused by complacency, and we’re going to address that,” said Solomon Graves, spokesman for ADC. “We’re going to continuously instill in our staff that constant vigilance is key.”
Kelley said discipline has already been handed down to the two construction supervisors. One has been fired, the other suspended a week without pay. The guard who lost sight of Jones also faces punishment, but Kelley would not offer details pending the guard’s right to appeal the decision.
“Our main goal right now is to really double down on our staff,” said Graves. “We want to make sure that we’re getting that word out there that complacency is going to bite us every time.”
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