Detainee Dwayne Cardell Walker escaped from the custody of a Durham County police officer despite a new security system at the Durham County Jail.
When a prisoner at the Durham County Jail escaped custody by simply getting up and walking out the front door, police officials decided it was time for a security review. Trouble was, a new computerized program had just been installed, leaving administrators at the Durham County Sheriff’s Office with the task of fixing something that was not supposed to be broken.
Detainee Dwayne Cardell Walker escaped from the custody of a Durham County police officer Oct. 6 by quietly slipping away and proceeding nonchalantly out the nearest exit. Walker’s escape, caught on camera, was successful because the pair of doors he exited were controlled by the newly installed security system. This system, aimed at increasing the dependability and efficiency of security at the jail, was still partly untested when Walker made his break for freedom. In response, administrators are intent on perfecting the process, saying they are concentrating on technical improvement and the elimination of human error.
Walker’s escape occurred after he waited for hours in the facility’s booking area. There, Lt. Col. George Naylor said he had “all day to sit there and look, and to make his move.” Walker was able to bide his time and take into account any patterns he noticed in regard to doors opening and closing.
Since the booking area has no holding cells, the officer in charge of each detainee is the only one responsible for that particular individual. The lack of holding cells is meant to speed up prisoner processing by forcing officers to stay with their prisoners until they are booked. Despite the best efforts of magistrates and officers, booking can still take hours to complete. This delay, combined with flaws in the security system, presents prisoners with opportunities similar to the one that Walker took advantage of.
Walker is now back in police custody and faces a $75,000 secured bond. Within hours of bolting, he was recaptured by police and successfully booked into the Durham County Jail.
Aside from breaking out of jail, Walker was originally charged with a plethora of other crimes. According to The Herald-Sun of Durham, he was accused of “two counts of resisting a public officer, three counts of assault on a government official, felonious breaking and entering, possession of burglary tools, injury to personal property and possession of drug paraphernalia (a crack pipe and two push rods).”
In the wake of Walker’s escape, officials at the prison have improved security by reiterating proper procedure, re-coordinating the programs that control entrances and significantly increasing the number of security cameras on the premises.
Although the new security system has yet to be perfected, Naylor is optimistic about its potential. The old system, replaced about three months ago, was “antiquated... they no longer manufactured parts for it,” he said, adding that “officers were having to work overtime to open doors.” Naylor said the new system will be more dependable as well as cost-effective once it has been in place longer and all the “quirks” have been worked out.
Unlike the old system, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office said it believes this new system is much more flexible in terms of programming options and is also easier to fix when something goes awry. If there are problems, “It doesn’t take long to get [the system] operating again,” said Naylor, noting that the old security program was nearly impossible to repair at times due to the obsoleteness of certain parts.
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