Following the recapture of two Florida inmates who used forged documents to escape prison, the Florida Senate has scheduled a hearing for next month to make sure such a jailbreak is harder to achieve.
Fleming Island Republican Senator Rob Bradley says he wants to conduct a thorough review of what allowed convicted murderers Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker to walk out of prison. Bradley is the head of a Senate Budget committee that looks at criminal justice issues.
“The Senate is very concerned about what took place last week at Franklin Correctional Institute. It’s an unacceptable event, and we intend to have hearings to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again,” said Bradley.
Last week, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews said his department will verify early prisoner releases with judges, not just a county clerks’ office. But, Bradley says he wants it taken a step further.
“I think clearly there needs to be many, many parts of the process that before that decision is made to release that individual, that we not only check with the judge, we check with the prosecutor’s office that handled the case, all individuals involved to make sure that before that murderer is released, there is no fraud involved,” added Bradley.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice is scheduled to hold the hearing November 6th.
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