Show I Hardened Prisoners i Test Jail Security Dy By BETTY The security of the new Dav Davis is County jail has bas been sorely tested during the past few weeks Since the first of of the year two iwo attempts attempts' a break mg Ing out of the Mail jail ha have e been staged br by the s same me group I of Inmates ON 12 men been imprisoned at the state penitentiary were transferred to the Davis County jail in an effort to quell a a ariot riot at the state penitentiary These 12 men men were considered the rIngleaders rIng rIng- leaders of that riot They were housed in these groups at the county jail In Farmington In Cell 1 were Dayton Belgard John Underwood Underwood Under Under- wood Rolando and Ray Sheffield in Cell 2 David Harper John Galpin Leonard Bowne and John Wait and in Cell 3 Dennis Kinder Jay Briggs Max Reay and Charles Stinnett There were no no wom women wom en prisoners at the time so these men were isolated fromn froin the other prisoners in the women's cell block THEY TilEY been at the Jail only two days when the first jail jailbreak break was attempted During During Dur Dur- ing the night night of Jan 6 the felons lons in ce cell l 3 3 In prying a corner comer ot of a steel plate open by using a spoon they had brought with them from the st state te pen This steel houses ho ses a light recessed in the ceiling It is like like a a. a steel grato grat is set on hinges which can be unlocked and swung down to replace aa a. a worn light gloM globe after th the Inmates had succeeded suc suc needed in prying a corner comer of the plate loose they a chain of their knotted sheets blankets and mattress covers covers' under the plate plate and rid tied the other end to the cell cel bare According to the offense report they evidently placed their shoes between n the knotted knotted knot knot- ted bed clothes thus forming a turn buckle twist which produced pro pro- a tensile strength equal to a steel cable However they were unable to pry it completely open IT WAS their opinion that the recessed light lei to the attic However they taken into consideration that U the e ce cell block walls extending Into nto the attic are are or of inch S-inch thick concrete When the attempt was discovered dis dis- covered the next morning the prisoners ners said they had bad beer beef attempting the break because one of the others had a bloody I Inose nose and they w wanted n ed to re ports It to the dispatcher This prisoner Ray Sheffield did have a badly lacerated nos lIe claimed he fell from hIS bunk striking his nose on n th the edge of hi his bunk as Ji f There were were signs that a fire had bad b been eri ta ted ln In h eelk I by the lighting of pages from magazines magazin s There were a also so signs that the light w welt li fa facell 1 cell 2 had als also been tampered red with ALL 12 pr prisoners w V e ere r e moved to the maximum security ity cells ceUs until the the light wellS could be welded shut Then new lighting was placed at atthe the back backof of the cell bl block ck where oth other r utilities are icon con troll trolled d by the jailer Although the jailers are arc ex cx- d lawmen none of the three have ever had to deal with this type of hardened criminal Nor has I there been bce l lany any specific schooling set se up ln In Utah for for teaching Jailers abo about t their specific job II HOWEVER WEVER Sheriff Kenneth Hammon has had his deputies take advantage of every police course available I The three jailers hired at the Davis County jail ar are enrolled in a aja ja jailers jailers' l r correspondence course sponsored by the Bureau of Prisons ps ns They and all aU the e deputies Ih have ve c completed pl ted a a. a basl police course taught by byh h the Utah Peace P Officers Officers' And the the Cl criminal deputies have been able to take advantage tage tase of or sever several l courses spa spa- set set up for criminal investigations Currently Chief Deputy Wil- Wil slam L. L Peters and Criminal Deputy Deput Glen Clary are attending attending attend attend- ing an eight week course in PolIce Science which deals specifically with i c crime investigation at t Weber College And Gordon Box Rox burg another criminal deputy will be attending a school on homicide o 0 n a t Camp Williams on Jan 28 28 29 30 and 31 BUT DUT AS we said before the jailers had never had to deal with this type of hardened criminal before They hadn't been schooled in security well enough to recognize the type of situation that Jailer Don A A. A Smith walked Into last Sunday night But once he was in that situation he handled it I very well Sheriff Hammon said of Mr Smith Im sure all the men have learned a great deal about what to expect from this type of criminal They have learned fast and well during these experiences experiences ex- ex of the past few weeks They know hand fIrst of the necessity of constant alertness and of not allowing themselves to trust these felons fel ons for even an instant he said It should be as valuable as any schooling they mIght have had he added THEY TilEY realize now that while they are busily attending to the many duties of being a jailer the inmates are arc able to spend their entire waking hours devising methods of attempting attempting at- at tempting to break out And these men have nothing to lose because they're already commItted to serve life sen sen- continued on page three Inmates Test Jail continued from Irom front page the Sheriff pointed out Understanding these things It is easy to see why a nOM near out break occurred on Sunday evening This is what happened happened hap hap- according to Jailer Don Smiths Smith's report AFTER the lights had been changed in the women's cell cellblock cellblock block the prisoners were were again placed in the cells there By Sund Sunday lY however there were only ten because two Briggs and had had been returned to the State Prison at the Point of the Mountain At about while the men were in the room dayroom of the cell block Mr Smith went there to get a guitar which bel belonged to one of the trustees but had been loaned to them by Mr Smith INSTEAD of ordering the themen themen men back to their cells and locking them in by means of them the control outside the cell cellbloCk cellblock bloCk he opened the cell cellblock cellblock block door and stepped inside He was handed the guitar by Jay Sheffield But at the same instant Dennis Kinder and Charles Stinnett came out of cell 2 and Kinder P a ablack ablack black object at him It was shiny and looked like a revolver er Mr Smith reported At the same time grabbed Mr Smith and told him to be quiet lIe Ile had his arm around my throat and Racy was pulling some kind of a string the sheriff said it could have been a shoe lace out of his pocket after Kinder had said to tie tic me up Mr Smith said HOWEVER he was able to back Stinnett Into a corner and began yelling for lor help Kinder and Raey moved toward toward to- to ward the open door to leave the cell blOCk In fact he had taken a step out of the cell cellblock cellblock block when he saw Stan Tebbs the dispatcher coming around the corner of the hallway |