6:40 p.m.: Residents question whether inmates escaped

April 25, 2007 06:38 pm

— NEW CASTLE, Ind. (AP) — Did they escape or didn’t they?
That was a key question for some residents in this eastern Indiana community Wednesday, a day after about 500 inmates burned mattresses, broke windows and wielded makeshift clubs during a riot at the New Castle Correctional Facility.
State Police Sgt. Rod Russell insisted Wednesday morning that no inmates escaped during the two-hour fracas. Trina Randall, a spokeswoman for the GEO Group Inc., the Florida company that runs the prison, agreed.
But residents who are still jittery from Tuesday’s events questioned those accounts.
An employee of a convenience store that sits a half mile from the prison’s gates said she saw police tackle two men dressed in orange jumpsuits and running across the street from her store on Tuesday afternoon.
“That shocked me, to see them get taken down right there,” said Michelle Lynn, assistant manager of the Red Barn Market.
She said she was certain the men were prisoners “because nobody else wears orange over there for that reason.”
Police temporarily blocked off roads after the riot started. Store Manager Angie Muncy, who didn’t see the takedown, said an officer told her, “It’s best you lock the doors, they are out.”
Randall, the GEO spokeswoman, joked that the people Lynn saw might have been joggers who made unfortunate clothing choices.
“I assure nobody breached the security of the perimeter,” she said. “Nobody left this facility.”