8 Inmates Escape in Chula Vista; 3rd Break in 4 Months

Using a ladder made of bedsheets and pillowcases, eight inmates escaped from the County Jail in Chula Vista about 8 p.m. Tuesday. The break was the third there since December.

One of the inmates was caught, but the others remained at large, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said. Two of the seven at large were charged with murder, he said.

“They cut through the bars once again, just as they did on March 7,” said Sgt. Jim Cooke, the spokesman. Some tools apparently had been smuggled into the jail, Cooke said, although deputies did not know what kind.

The inmates apparently knocked a hole in a window and then lowered themselves to the ground, according to an unidentified sheriff’s deputy.

The eight, considered dangerous, escaped from Module 4A, a different module from previous escapees. Cooke described Module 4A as a “hard-felony tank.”

Seven inmates housed in Module 3A escaped Dec. 5, and 13 inmates housed in Module 4B escaped March 7. Five of the seven who escaped Dec. 5 have been recaptured, and nine of the 13 who escaped March 7 have been recaptured.

The March 7 break, the largest ever in the county, prompted the County Board of Supervisors to approve $103,000 to put alarms and wire screens on the Chula Vista jail’s windows and to install security cameras. The money will also be used to better light jail grounds.