Two Hall County deputies have been fired in connection with the escape last week of a jail inmate.
The firing of deputies Larry Henslee and Jack Dodd were announced Tuesday, one day after jail escapee James Edward Cantrell, 46, was captured by U.S. marshals at a Tucker motel. He had been on the loose six days.
In a press release, the sheriff’s office pinned much of the blame for Cantrell’s escape on Henslee and Dodd.
Cantrell escaped around 12:40 p.m. on July 16 as he and other inmates were leaving court and being taken back to the county jail. Investigators said Cantrell concealed himself in the alcove of a locked doorway at the courthouse and then escaped in a pick-up truck that was parked nearby with the keys in the ignition.
The truck was recovered a couple of days later.
At the courthouse, the deputies did not “have the inmates in an orderly fashion, nor were they positioned to properly monitor the inmates,” the news release stated.
“They failed to notice Cantrell as he slipped out of line and concealed himself in the alcove of an exterior doorway while they were loading other inmates onto the transport bus,” the release said.
An internal investigation showed that the two had conducted an inmate head count before leaving the courthouse. But they failed to do the same once the bus was loaded and when it arrived back at the jail. Their failure to immediately investigate when the discrepancy was discovered gave Cantrell a one-hour, 30-minute head-start, the release stated.
Sheriff Gerald Couch said “events like this are inexcusable.”
“This is a prime example of why procedures must be followed,” Couch said. “Unfortunately, human error allowed this escape to occur and not be discovered in a timely fashion. The bottom line is there was a failure to perform basic, frontline duties resulting in a very serious situation, and I will not tolerate it.”
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