Inmate in fatal escape in Texas attempts suicide, prison officials say

[Greg]

Sept. 26, 2007, 6:08PM
Inmate in fatal escape attempts suicide, prison officials say | Houston Chronicle

© 2007 The Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — One of the two inmates involved in the brief escape this week that left a Texas corrections officer dead tried to kill himself Wednesday morning, state prison officials said.

Jerry Martin tried to hang himself in his cell at the Estelle Unit outside Huntsville at around 5:25 a.m., said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. The 37-year-old Martin used boxer shorts he attached to a light fixture in his cell.

Martin was quickly found by officers who had been checking on him frequently, Lyons said. He was taken to a Huntsville hospital and later released.

Martin, who has been serving a 50-year attempted murder sentence since 1997, was then taken to an undisclosed TDCJ unit.

Martin and another inmate, John Ray Falk, 40, broke from a work detail Monday at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville, stole a truck, then hijacked a car before they were caught within hours. Corrections officer Susan Canfield, 59, was run over and killed as they fled in the pickup truck.

Falk was apprehended within an hour. Martin was caught hiding in a tree about 3 1/2 hours later, after a manhunt that included a police helicopter, Stetson-hatted lawmen on horseback and bloodhounds.

Falk had been serving a life sentence for murder in 1986.

The escape happened when one of the seven correctional officers on horseback who were guarding Falk and Martin and 74 other inmates allowed one of the escapees to approach to have the guard hold a watch. When the guard tried to get the watch, the inmate pulled him to the ground.

Lyons said Tuesday that mounted guards are required to stay 30 feet away from inmates.

A review by the department's independent investigator's office and the Texas Rangers will 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 told the Houston Chronicle. "At that point, we will be able to examine what was done correctly and where any breakdowns may have occurred.