New York Times – by ASHLEY SOUTHALL
Four of five inmates who escaped from a jail in central California and were considered “armed and dangerous” were captured on Saturday, the authorities said.
The inmates escaped from the Madera County Jail around 9:15 p.m. on Friday, the county Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on its Facebook page.
But around 10 p.m. on Saturday, Pacific time, Erica Stuart, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department, announced that four of the inmates had been captured. Roel Soliz, 29, who was convicted of burglary and parole and probation violations, was still at large, she said in an email.
The men had fled on foot, wearing their bright orange jail jumpsuits, Ms. Stuart said Saturday night. She told The Associated Press that officers from the county Department of Corrections, which operates the jail, noticed that the inmates were missing about an hour after they escaped.
The Sheriff’s Department identified the captured inmates as Ricardo Cendejas, 19; Juan Lopez, 30; Jorge Lopez-Diaz, 26; Abel Ramos, 25.
The five men were being held on a total of 23 charges, including attempted murder, armed robbery and promoting or assisting felony gang activity, the statement said.
“All five men should be considered armed and dangerous,” the Sheriff’s Department said on Facebook earlier Saturday.
It is not the first time this year that an inmate has escaped from the jail. In July, an inmate held on narcotics and weapons charges jumped a fence while taking out the trash, but he was captured a few hours later, according to The Fresno Bee.
Madera County is in the San Joaquin Valley, northwest of Fresno, Calif. It has a population of about 152,000, according to census data.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/us/california-jail-escape.html