Three Tulsa Jail employees put on leave after two escapes

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Three Tulsa Jail employees have been put on administrative leave after two inmates escaped from the jail in separate incidents Friday and Saturday. <br><br>Jerome Garfield and John

Sunday, December 31st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Three Tulsa Jail employees have been put on administrative leave after two inmates escaped from the jail in separate incidents Friday and Saturday.

Jerome Garfield and John Davenport remained on the loose Saturday night after escaping Friday and Saturday, respectively, in unrelated incidents, Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Marvin Branham said.

CCA officials blamed the unrelated escapes on employees not following proper arrest and release procedures. Two clerks and a lieutenant were put on administrative leave until investigations of the escapes are completed.

Garfield was awaiting transfer to the Okmulgee County Jail on complaints of possessing a stolen vehicle. Wearing street clothes, he was waiting in a hallway outside a jail release room, walked into the room with six other inmates and then walked out of the jail with them, Branham said.

Branham said it was not the first time someone tried to escape through the release room, but the first time it worked.

Davenport, who was brought into the jail on complaints of trespassing, false impersonation and using a fraudulent drivers license, escaped by running out a side door where police officers enter and exit the jail, Branham said.

Earlier this month, a federal prisoner escaped from the Tulsa Jail after getting out of the jail in the kitchen trash.