After facing serious questions about how 900 prohibited cell phones were smuggled into Texas prisons, along with drugs and weapons, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is on the defensive again trying to find an inmate who escaped despite being shackled to a wheelchair, reports the Houston Chronicle.
The agency could answer few questions about how convicted rapist Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr., 49, escaped Monday from a prison van after pulling a gun and handcuffing two officers, stealing their three guns, and walking away. Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the corrections committee, said the incident shows Gov. Rick Perry needs to shake up the prison system. The inspector general for the Department of Criminal Justice said the system, with 154,000 inmates and 114 facilities, has “basically a good record.”