In the second Oregon prison escape in just a week, a convicted sex offender, who was due to be released in a few days, slipped prison officials and jumped a fence, escaping from the prison.
On Monday, a large scale manhunt was initiated for a prison inmate who somehow slipped away on Sunday night from the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Oregon. Convicted sex offender Matthew Joseph Medlin was found in a fast-food restaurant off the Interstate 5, and is being returned to prison.
Betty Bernt, Oregon Department of Corrections communications manager, said:
“Of course we are concerned that this is the second inmate escape . Both incidents will receive a thorough review by DOC, as well as a state police investigation. All security protocols will be scrutinized.”
The prison is a minimum security facility, although it does have pretty good security record and is not a simple place to escape from. The authorities in charge of the facility are now looking into ways to ensure that a third Oregon prison escape does not occur.
It wasn’t the hardest job in the world to find the escaped prisoners. Swearingen was still wearing his prison garb – blue jeans with the word “inmate” and the DOC logo stenciled on the knee in orange, or red shorts and a blue T-shirt with the word “inmate.”
Prison authorities are also looking into the possibility that there may have been some collaboration between the two inmates who escaped in the same week, or at the very least, the first escapee may have started a trend at the facility.
Security is at an all time high at the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution as guards patrol 24/7 and reinforce the fence that the prisoner jumped. They want to make sure that other inmates don’t get any ideas about following suit, and escaping.
