After touring the facility himself, Parish President Kevin Davis is compiling his own set of experts to looking into problems with the structure of the St. Tammany Parish Jail.

Davis said while Sheriff Jack Strain is responsible for maintaining and manning the jail, the parish is responsible for providing the building to be used as a jail.

While they have argued for years over who is responsible for funding the facility, the two men appear to agree on that note.

Shown is St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain in front of the jail, the design of which is currently being reassessed. (Staff Photo by Debbie Glover)

And after two escapes in one year, they both agree something has to be done, and are working together to find a solution.

“This is not a time for politics. This is a time for each party to look at their respective areas of responsibility and to ensure that they are fulfilling them to the best of their ability,” Davis wrote in a statement e-mailed Thursday.

Suzanne Stymiest, spokes person for the parish, said Davis has called for a review of not only the structure but of “the entire jail system, the facility, maintenance and operational.”

“Absolutely everything on the table needs to be looked at,” she said.

George Bonnett, spokesman for the Sheriff Office said Strain is happy to work with the parish president to address this important issue.

Following the most recent escape, that of suspected murderer Carlos Rodriguez, Strain said he has questions about the structure of the jail and its ability to be defeated by prisoners. Last week, while Rodriguez was still on the lose, Strain met with Corrections Consultant Tom Holden and engineers with Richard Lambert Associates who designed the jail and asked them to review the structure to identify any other weaknesses not already brought to light by the two breakouts.

“I want to know any potential weak points in the jail,” Strain said at a press conference earlier this week. “They designed and built the jail. They understand it better than I do as a physical structure.”

Rodriguez was able to get out of the jail by getting through a ceiling tile, crawling through a crawlspace and breaking through a concrete wall. Once outside the building he used a twisted bed sheet to get over the razor wire and fled in a waiting car. Rodriguez was found a week later hiding in the attic of his childhood church in Kenner.

Strain has asked the engineers to review the ceiling and to report back to him as soon as possible.

He requested a review of the structure be conducted and a report be provided by this past Wednesday. Instead of a report, Bonnett said, the Sheriff’s Office received a letter from Holden Wednesday morning stating that if he was to conduct a review he wanted the Sheriff’s Office and parish to first release him from any liability.

Bonnett said Strain was not willing to do that and has decided, with Davis, to seek out an independent review.

Davis said in his statement that his staff is working with consultants to find the best independent experts in this field and will make arrangements to bring them to St. Tammany at the first possible opportunity. Stymiest said the parish is looking nationwide for experts in correctional facilities, and Davis hopes to begin discussion within the week.

“Public safety must be maintained,” he wrote.

The sheriff is continuing to review the operational aspects of the jail that are his area of responsibility.

“Neither I, nor the parish council, have the law enforcement expertise to examine deputy placement or operational protocols.  The allocation of the sheriff’s personnel is a law enforcement issue which the Sheriff is examining,” Davis said.  

Following the completion of the review, Davis has pledged to request the Parish Council take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the St. Tammany Jail is secure. Stymiest said when the jail was built 10 years ago it was “the best that could be built.”

But she said no jail is foolproof, and part of the responsibility of keeping prisoners in lies with the operations of the facility, which is why Davis is looking for experts that can look at both the facility and the operations.

In a letter dated yesterday and addressed to Davis, Strain said it was his understanding Holden would “perform an analysis of jail security as related to and affected by the construction of the facility. Throughout that visit, Holden took photographs and collected information we assumed would be used as a part of that analysis. Our agreement that day was for an initial report to submitted by March 3, yesterday.”

Strain continued, “It appeared his interest quickly changed from wanting to be part of a team working together to address and correct problems to wanting to protect himself from any findings which could potentially embarrass his firm. Perhaps it became clear to him during the walk-through that this was not a maintenance issue, but rather a problem with materials he used during the building’s construction.”

The conditions set by Holden in a letter to Lambert includes a written agreement directly with the Sheriff’s Office, not as a sub-consultant to Lambert’s firm; a charge for their time and services; and an agreement in writing from the sheriff’s office that “include language wherein the Sheriff agrees to hold harmless, defend and fully indemnify Holden Architects and me personally, any consultant we may retain, as well as our insurers from any claims, demands or cause of action which arise out of or are in any way related to the Carlos Rodriguez jail escape, and/or out of or are in anyway related to any services to investigate anything regarding any escape by anyone at any time at the (jail) facility.”

Holden also said his firm is not currently working on any recommendations or reports to be made to the Sheriff’s Office.

Strain said he is not happy with the response and was hoping they could come together to find the issues and fix them.

“We wasted precious days waiting for the report, but now we are going forward,” he said.

Sam Fauntleroy was brought in to address a specific problem, said Strain, but a national expert will be brought in to inspect and review the entire jail facility.