CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WHDH) – Three guards and one supervisor at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, have been placed on leave six days after an escaped inmate was taken into custody in Massachusetts.
Related: Officials: Escaped Rhode Island inmate captured in Somerville
Luke Gallant, chairman of the board directors at the facility, announced the decision Thursday, calling the escape “unacceptable and inexcusable.”
Workers at the facility were not following policy when James Morales, 35, escaped the facility on New Year’s Eve, Gallant said.
Gallant said an investigators will work to determine exactly what led to Morales’ escape. All officers and prisoners at the facility will be interviewed.
Morales escaped the facility by climbing a basketball hoop to reach a rooftop, cutting through a fence and climbing through razor wire.
The former Army reservist was charged with stealing 16 guns from a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Worcester in 2015 and is also facing child rape charges in Massachusetts.
Morales was taken into custody Thursday afternoon in Somerville.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)