El Paso County Inmates Let Themselves Out

COLORADO SPRINGS — Inmates at the El Paso County Jail have been using paper and Saran Wrap to open their cell doors.

Sheriff Terry Maketa showed an 8-minute video to county commissioners Monday that showed how the inmates freed themselves from their cells but not from their pods. The video is a re-enactment used to train deputies.

"We had one inmate, it was time for him to do his video visitation, so he let himself out to go do it," said Dennis Hisey, chairman of the board of county commissioners.

In another instance, Hisey said, a couple of inmates got out of their cell, went to another cell, jimmied that lock and assaulted another inmate.

Lt. Lari Sevene, spokeswoman for the sheriff, said inmates have popped locks four times in the past six weeks.

Inmates also have torn teeth from a comb and used the plastic to keep the deadbolt from completely engaging.

The problem, Maketa said, is that the jail has too many high-risk inmates in a medium-security facility. The county closed its high-security facility in 2005 because of safety concerns. That facility housed 300 to 400 inmates.

The Denver Post