Contrary to what I've heard defense experts tell capital juries about the likelihood of capital murderers leaving their lock-ups, condemned killer Charles Thompson has escaped afer being bench-warranted to Harris County.

Whether or not prosecutors have or use our book, Future Danger?, published by TDCAA, wherein the opportunities for capital murderers, death-sentenced and lifers alike, to commit violence, even escape is discussed, it has been graphically demonstrated in this latest case.
When you folks are cross-examining those high-paid defense experts in d.p. punishment hearings, I hope you ask them about condemned capital murderer Charles Victor Thompson and his escape from custody. Remember, no one can control whether a convicted capital murderer goes out from TDC on a bench warrant, after his convction -- the reasons for doing so are numerous. Sometimes they go to small county, minimally secure jailhouses and sometimes they go to the big cities. Will the expert you're facing guarantee that the defendant will NEVER leave the confines of TDCJ for any reason? And, once that person does leave on a bench warrant, he is no longer under TDCJ's watch -- sometimes that isn't the best anyway, i.e. the Carlos Kidd escape -- the bench-warranted inmate becomes the responsibility of the local folks.

[This message was edited by A.P. Merillat on 11-04-05 at .]

Has he been caught yet? I heard on the local news here that the guy somehow got ahold of some "free world" clothes and an ID tag from the Attny Gen.'s Office and that was why the jailer let him out. Any truth to that?

I have heard that the Harris County jail is a real mess.

I have heard people in the incaceration business say again and again that prisoners rarely escape from cells; they escape when they must be moved from one place to another. Some experts want juries to believe that ad seg means 23 hr lockdown with one hour in an adjacent "dog run." AP, isn't it inevitable that prisoners are moved around for various reasons? Never mind that prisoners in ad seg have been found with dope, money, cell phones & etc.

There have been escapes from Ad Seg, trusty camp, general population, work squads, you name it. And, yes, there are a multitude of reasons that an inmate will be moved from one place to another. As in the Thompson case, there was no choice, he had to be brought back to Harris County for his re-sentencing. That's what I harp on ad nauseum about: you can give a capital murderer, a serial killer, a child murderer, an assassin or whatever the most heinous felon you can imagine might be, a life sentence, but that does not guarantee he will be in Ad Seg, Super Seg or any other Seg. No one can tell the prison system where to house an inmate. Even then, there have been murders and escapes from High Security, Death Row and nearly every other hunk of concrete in the system. Plus, once the guy gets to the iron house, he can be bench-warranted, taken to medical facilities (Carlos Kidd), moved to another unit because of enemies or civil rights (don't get me started) or family issues or whatever.

So, Ben, the short answer to your question is yes, prisoners can and will be moved for any number of reasons.

or they can stay right where they are (Soria) and darn near cut off the Padre's arm!

Escaped Texas death row inmate captured

"You know who I am," intoxicated convict tells police in Shreveport, La.