Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis (pictured) says the arrests of officers Jacob Johnson and Reginald Butler were made following a criminal and internal investigation after a jail escape May 3, where three 17-year-old juveniles escaped from a window of the Raymond Detention Center. Photo by Trip Burns.
Several corrections and detention officers in central Mississippi have come under fire in recent days.
Mississippi prison guard Andre Kennedy was suspended from his job after being charged with capital murder, kidnapping and armed robbery in a crime in Jackson's upscale Eastover neighborhood.
The state Department of Corrections said the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility suspended Kennedy, 22, without pay Wednesday, May 20. Authorities arrested him Tuesday, and he is in jail without bond. It wasn't immediately clear whether Kennedy has an attorney.
Police said a doctor was outside his Eastover home Saturday morning and was putting items in his pickup truck when two gunmen approached him and demanded money. They forced the doctor to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash.
Police said the gunmen then forced the doctor to drive to another place and told him to get out of the vehicle. As he did, the doctor pulled out a handgun and fired at the suspects, killing Edwin Robinson, 23.
JPD said they consider the shooting justifiable homicide, and the doctor has not been charged. However, the case will be presented to a grand jury. It was not immediately clear why Kennedy was charged with capital murder. A spokeswoman for JPD did not immediately respond to the Jackson Free Press' request for an explanation of the charges this morning.
Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher said through a news release that Kennedy had worked at the prison in Rankin County since January 2014. Because a state employee has civil-service protection, Kennedy is suspended without pay while he awaits due process.
"We are in the process of implementing new hiring policies, including the use of polygraphs," Fisher said in a statement. "Although polygraphs are not foolproof, they are an excellent tool in the hiring process."
In a separate incident, two Hinds County detention officers were arrested after being accused of helping three juveniles escape.
Multiple news sources say the officers, Jacob Johnson and Reginald Butler, were fired and booked into the Raymond Detention Center Wednesday. Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis says the arrests were made following a criminal and internal investigation after the jail escape May 3, where the 17-year-old juveniles escaped from a window of the downtown facility.
Police found two in the immediate vicinity of the jail and recaptured the other May 7. Johnson and Butler have been charged with aiding in the escape of an inmate. It is unclear if they have lawyers.
Lewis says a third detention officer was fired, but not for the inmate escape. The detention center fired him for sleeping on the job.
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