Texas CO killed in escape.

[KSDog]

The Buffalo News: 24 Hour Breaking News: 2 Texas inmates escape; officer killed

My condolences and prayers to her family and the members of the TDCJ.

[shakedownshorti]

That is really sad, thought and prayers to her family!

[Greg]

That is absolutely horrible.

From the article:

John Ray Falk, 40, the first inmate caught, has been serving a life sentence for murder in 1986. Jerry Martin, 37, serving a 50-year attempted murder sentence since 1997, was found hiding in a tree, having stripped to his boxer shorts in a futile attempt to prevent dogs from detecting his scent, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

Based on their good disciplinary record in prison, they were classified as minimum security inmates and assigned to do field work outside the prison under the supervision of officers.

WTF is wrong with Texas that they allow convicts--one with life and the other with 40 years left--to work on an outside crew??? I thought Texas was really hard-core on everything. Who cares how good their behavior was?!

[Greg]

Here's another article with more details:

Sept. 24, 2007, 6:35PM
Officer dead as 2 inmates escape Texas prison | Houston Chronicle

By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Two inmates working in a prison field overpowered a guard on horseback on Monday and killed her when they ran her over in a stolen pickup truck after exchanging gunfire with officers, prison officials said.

The inmates, in prison for murder and attempted capital murder, were both recaptured. One was apprehended within an hour. The second was caught hiding in a tree about two hours later, after a manhunt that included a police helicopter, Stetson-hatted lawmen on horseback and bloodhounds.

Jerry Martin, 37, who had been imprisoned since 1997 and was serving a 50-year sentence for attempted murder, was found in the tree wearing only boxer shorts after dogs picked up his scent, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said. He did not resist arrest.

"He apparently believed that by shedding his clothing he could avoid the scent of the tracking dogs," Lyons said. She said Martin did not appear to be hurt.

Lyons said that they will at least face felony escape charges, but it hasn't been determined yet what charges they'll face in the death of the officer.

Martin and John Ray Falk, a 40-year-old serving a life sentence since 1986 for a Matagorda County murder, were among 76 inmates working in a garden outside the Wynne Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice just north of Huntsville on Monday morning. They were being guarded by six officers, Lyons said.

At about 10:10 a.m. in the field along Interstate 45, one of the two inmates who ended up escaping approached officer Susan Canfield to ask her to hold what officials believe was a watch, Lyons said. When Canfield, who was on horseback, reached for the object, a struggle ensued and the inmate got her weapon. The second inmate was also able to get another officer's weapon, Lyons said.

The two inmates exchanged gunfire with officers, stole a Huntsville city truck from a nearby parking area and ran over Canfield on horseback as she tried to stop them, Lyons said. She said many details are still sketchy and it is not clear who was driving the truck. It is not known what happened to the horse.

Canfield, 59, of New Waverly, had been a corrections officer for seven years, Lyons said.

The inmates dumped the pickup about a mile away, and then confronted a woman in a bank drive-through in Huntsville and took her car. By then, the Huntsville police were in pursuit and shot out a tire in that car.

The inmates then jumped out of the woman's vehicle and Falk was caught at about 11 a.m., Lyons said.

Martin was captured at about 1:40 p.m. in a wooded area west of I-45 and south of state highway 30, about a mile or two south of where the officer was killed. The search for him included numerous state and local law enforcement agencies.

Lyons said it was "too early to say" if the escape was planned or spur of the moment.

Lyons said that officials have recovered the stolen weapons.

Based on their good disciplinary record in prison, Martin and Falk were classified as a minimum security inmates and assigned to do field work outside the prison under the supervision of officers.

"In this case, obviously, something went wrong," Lyons said.

The Wynne Unit, established in 1883, is one of the oldest in the Texas prison system. It holds about 2,600 inmates of various custody levels. The unit is about 80 miles north of Houston and shares about 1,500 acres with two other prisons that straddle the main freeway between Houston and Dallas.

[jblake]

R.I.P. thought's and prayers to her family.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Watchman63

Lyons said that they will at least face felony escape charges, but it hasn't been determined yet what charges they'll face in the death of the officer.

WHAT? What needs to be determined exactly? They RAN over her in a truck. Accident or not, it was committed during a Felony which makes it capital murder anyway.


What the hell are they trying to determine?

[wildbill]

Prayers from Rusk, also remember her co-workers.

[smileynana1]

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of Wynne Unit.

[Greg]

Sept. 26, 2007, 12:35AM
Official: Prison policy not followed in escape | Houston Chronicle
Investigators review how 2 inmates fled, guard was killed

By TERRI LANGFORD and MARK BABINECK
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

A correctional officer on horseback apparently violated state prison policy when he allowed an inmate on a work detail to approach him, an official said Tuesday, a lapse that possibly led to another mounted officer's death during an escape attempt.

As the investigation continued into Monday's escape of two inmates from a Huntsville prison crew working in a vegetable field, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons confirmed that mounted guards are required to stay 30 feet away from inmates — a requirement that wasn't followed.

Correctional officer Susan Canfield, 59, died when her horse was struck by a vehicle being driven by the fleeing inmates.

"Our policy is that officers working with field squads should stay a minimum of 30 feet from the offenders while the inmates are on foot, working," Lyons said.

The escape attempt occurred Monday morning when the inmates — convicted murderer John Ray Falk, 40, and Jerry Duane Martin, 37, convicted of attempted capital murder — approached and overpowered a male Wynne Unit correctional officer, then fled to a nearby parked city truck, which had the keys in the ignition. As other officers fired on them, the inmates drove the truck into Canfield's horse as she tried to stop them. She fell to the ground, dying instantly. The inmates grabbed her rifle and handgun. The horse was euthanized after a bullet wound was discovered.

Falk, who had been serving a life sentence since 1986, and Martin, who started his 50-year term in August 1997, were both back in custody within four hours after a carjacking, police chase and massive manhunt.

The two inmates and 74 others had been under the observation of an armed, seven-person horseback patrol as the prisoners hoed outside the prison's fence. The escape began when one of the escapees was allowed to approach a male correctional officer on horseback to ask him to hold his watch. When the officer tried to take the watch, the inmate pulled the officer to the ground.

Neither the prison system nor its independent investigator would release the name of the first guard who was ambushed.

Procedure spelled out
Prison field work in the area was suspended Tuesday as the investigation continued.

Keith Price, assistant professor of criminal justice and sociology at West Texas A&M University and a former Texas prison warden, said there is no scenario where an inmate should be allowed to approach a guard in the field.

"Never, never," said Price.

Armed guards on horseback know to form a perimeter around field workers, Price said. They act similar to officers in towers and are trained not to approach the inmates while armed and not to allow prisoners to get within about 30 to 40 feet.

The TDCJ's independent investigator's office and the Texas Rangers are reviewing the escape to determine what occurred and how it could have been prevented.

"It's these types of details that will be a part of the focus of the serious incident review," Lyons said. "At that point, we will be able to examine what was done correctly and where any breakdowns may have occurred."

But Canfield's death has raised serious questions about which inmates should be allowed to work outside a prison as well as how they should be monitored.

Both inmates had been convicted of violent crimes, yet both qualified for outside work. Inmates may be considered for outside work only if they have served at least 10 years — a mark that Martin passed only last month — and have a clean disciplinary record.

While Martin's record was clean enough for field work, it was not a spotless one.

On July 17, he was relocated to Wynne from the Polunsky Unit in Livingston after it was discovered he engaged in sexual behavior with a licensed vocational nurse at the unit.

"It's a pending investigation," said John Moriarty, TDCJ's inspector general, who added that the nurse no longer works for the prison system. No charges had been filed against the nurse as of Tuesday.

Good time revoked
As a result of the incident, the prison system revoked 30 days of good time accrued by Martin. Good time is a credit inmates earn for good behavior.

Despite the loss of good time, he was approved for field work because the sexual encounter did not affect his eligibility for outside duties.

The way inmates are considered for jobs at state prisons was changed in 2003, following the escape of seven Texas inmates from a South Texas prison.

Previously, inmates who showed they had adjusted to prison life by serving their time without incident or incurring disciplinary actions, no matter how long they had been in prison, could qualify. Now, they must serve at least 10 years.

Texas Board of Criminal Justice Chairwoman Christina Melton Crain declined to comment on the escape pending the outcome of the investigation.

One of the last female correctional officers to fall victim to prison violence was Jeanette Bledsoe, who was 57 in February 2000 when condemned killer Ponchai Wilkerson jimmied open his cell and attacked her while she escorted another inmate, Howard Guidry, through what was then called the Terrell Unit in Livingston.

Wilkerson, armed with a homemade spear, and Guidry held Bledsoe for 13 hours before surrendering. Bledsoe and her son, who also worked at Terrell, left TDCJ within a year because of the close call, she said. While she wouldn't go back and wouldn't want her daughter working there, she supports TDCJ's policy of giving qualified female officers equal opportunity, even when it comes to guarding some of Texas' most violent criminals.

Officer's qualifications
According to TDCJ, an officer's gender or physical size and strength is not a determining factor in job assignments. Rather, it's an officer's ability to "handle a particular job," TDCJ spokeswoman Lyons, said.

Canfield, an experienced horsewoman, became a correctional officer in 2000 and was assigned to the horseback field crews in 2004.

Visitation for Canfield is scheduled for Friday, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home in Huntsville. A funeral service will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum at Sam Houston State University.

terri.langford@chron.com

mark.babineck@chron.com

[Greg]

Huntsville corrections officer Susan Canfield, shown with her horse Pecos, was killed Monday as she confronted two prisoners trying to escape

A life on the line | The Bryan-College Station Eagle

Officer killed as she confronted escapees

By ARENA WELCH
Eagle Staff Writer

Susan Canfield went to work as a corrections officer for a Huntsville prison each day knowing that she could be putting her life on the line, her husband said Tuesday.

But that was a risk the 59-year-old New Waverly resident willingly accepted, he said.

"She was comfortable with the job; she wasn't afraid of it," said Chuck Canfield, a training officer with the Houston Police Department. "She knew what her role was to be, and she knew how she would have to react under given circumstances."

Susan Canfield died Monday after she was run down by two inmates trying to escape from the Wynne Prison Unit in Huntsville.

Canfield was one of seven guards supervising 76 prisoners working in an open field near the prison Monday morning.

Two inmates - 40-year-old John Ray Falk Jr. and 37-year-old Jerry Martin - overpowered another guard and stole a truck from a nearby municipal building, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials.

Canfield, on horseback, confronted the prisoners but was hit by the truck, officials said. She died of injuries suffered in that collision, said TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.

Canfield's horse was euthanized Monday night after officials discovered a bullet wound that was previously thought to be a minor injury, Lyons said.

The guards and escaping prisoners exchanged gunfire, Lyons said, adding that it was unclear Tuesday who shot the horse.

Falk and Martin were caught within hours of their escape Monday.

"Susan acted in her capacity, and she was stopping an escape," Chuck Canfield said Tuesday. "She did know she had a responsibility she took on, and she did not take that lightly."

There are 9,251 female corrections officers and 13,385 male corrections officers working in 106 prison facilities across the state, Lyons said. More than 350 corrections officers serve in the Wynne Unit, she said.

Lyons said she doesn't think female officers face challenges within the system that men do not.

"They are effective at their job, and they're good at what they do," Lyons said. "Just like the men, they have a difficult job and they do put their lives on the line in the interest of public safety."

But Chuck Canfield said that his wife often felt she had to prove herself in a job traditionally held by men.

"She went into a traditional male role, so for a great degree, she felt she had to prove herself," he said. "She had to perform to a higher degree than other people around her so that she wouldn't be viewed in a negative light as being a female in that role."

Canfield said his wife had a reputation for being strict with prisoners. But she was patient, too, and that probably helped her handle the stress that came with her job, he said.

"She had compassion for why some of the people in prison ended up there and that some of them really should be able to get the chance to prove that they were going to be able to correct themselves," he said. "But that didn't excuse some of them for what they were put there for."

The couple had been married 18 years and had three grown children: Christopher Canfield of Gray, Maine; Christina Canfield of Hickory, N.C., and Kara Holub and her husband, Allen, of Needville.

Funeral services are set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. at Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home.

Chuck Canfield said Tuesday that what he will miss the most about his wife are things that most couples take for granted each day.

"I miss seeing her come down the driveway," he said quietly as he began to cry. "I miss getting up in the morning and being able to help her get ready for work. I miss every little daily thing I could do for her when she was here."

• Arena Welch's e-mail address is arena.welch@theeagle.com.