Bail bondswoman: Guards may have helped with escape

Eight inmates who escaped Sunday from the Curry County Adult Detention Center may have had help from detention center officers, according to a local bail bondswoman.

But Curry County Undersheriff Wesley Waller said there is nothing in his agency’s investigation to support allegations made by Christina Snell of Hank’s Bail Bonds.

“As far as the investigation, we are addressing all aspects. At this point, the information (of inside help) ... has not been substantiated,” Waller said.

Snell said she spoke with a detention officer who was sent home in the middle of his shift Sunday night after the sheriff’s department took control of the jail.

The escape was discovered by Clovis police just before 10 p.m. when one of the escapees was apprehended.

The seven inmates still at large include a convicted murderer and a man charged with first-degree murder. All are charged with violent crimes.

Snell said a detention officer — whom she refused to identify — told her it is suspected someone working at the jail either gave inmates access or left a closet open that allowed inmates access to the roof.

“It’s an inside job. One of the jailers had to leave a door open; it was an inside job. It had to have been, they had to have been working on it for several days,” Snell said.

Waller said interviews are being conducted — “and that includes interviews of the employees,” he said — but no employees had been named as suspects or participants of the crime this afternoon.

Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said none of the detention center staff has been disciplined in connection with the escape.

Pyle said officers sent home Sunday night were released from duty because they had been working long shifts.

“At this time, no employees have been put on paid leave. We sent them home based on the amount of hours they were working and no employees have been disciplined,” Pyle said.

Snell said her source told her detention officers were sent home from the jail during their shift under instructions not to talk to anyone regarding the escape.

Snell, who works closely with local law enforcement and the jail, said she is familiar with several of the inmates who escaped.

“It’s not our minimum that escaped, it’s our maximum that escaped,” she said.

Snell said she is not surprised the jail break occurred and said things have been out of control at the facility in the last couple of weeks.