Why Can’t Louisiana Keep Inmates From Escaping Walk-Away Jails?
If you read this headline and immediately figured out a working solution, congratulations - you have common sense. Obviously, the point of jail is that you can't just walk away. A proper jail needs to have walls, barred windows, and lots and lots of locked doors. Otherwise, the "prisoners" are really just guests - right?
Unfortunately, that definition of jail isn't exactly the one some states prescribe to when it comes to minimum-security correctional facilities. These "jails" have routinely been called "country-clubs" and also, literally "walk-away" jails. That last nickname is a nod to how ridiculously easy these places are to escape when compared their maximum-security brethren.
According to the New Millford Spectrum, Louisiana isn't the only state having an issue. A frightening number of inmates are just walking away from their court-ordered punishment at jails with scaled back security. Over the last year and a half, 29 inmates have escaped federal lockup - and not all of them have been returned to their cells. A full dozen fugitives are still on the lam from jails in Florida, California, Louisiana, Texas and Colorado.
Jailbreaks from low-security prisons and farms represent the highest percentage of all escapes, and that's not the only issue. A large percentage of contraband entering the prison system gets in through operations like this. That's not to say that the men and women that work at these facilities aren't doing their jobs, it's just a lot easier for criminals to walk in and out of these operations with little to no resistance.
So far, the solution seems to be to hire our way out of it. In Texas, jobs in the correctional industry are available by the boatload. If you have experience of any sort, you could rustle up quite a signing bonus and/or salary. In Louisiana, it's pretty much the same. A cursory search for jobs at jails pulled up more results than I could possibly wade through.
Basically, if you are looking for a job and you think criminals should have to stay in jail until the judge says otherwise - this might just be your time to shine!
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