Orange County Jail

Orange County Jail

Escapes

In April of 2002, three inmates escaped in the middle of the night from Orange County Jail, and went on to steal an Oldsmobile in the backcountry near Livonia, southern Indiana. Using a fake gun made out of toilet paper and a home-made knife, prisoners Jeffrey Hayden, 19, Kerry Silvers, 28, and Larry Holden, 21, subdued two guards to make their escape. One of the inmates had already attempted to escape from Lawrence County Jail in 2000.

In 1986, two convicted murderers, Ivan Von Staich and Robert Joseph Clark, escaped from Orange County Jail, and were later rearrested in shortly after in an Orange County motel room. Clark, two years later in February, tried again to escape, this time from a courtroom that had just sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole.

In the morning of April 28 of 2005, 34-year old auto-thief Jose Salcido Rodriguez escaped from Orange County custody after being temporarily transferred to an employment program there from his usual lockup at James A. Musick Branch Jail. Rodriguez was never apprehended, despite helicopter crews and a sherriff's deputy search team that scoured the area. Rodriguez made his escape from the work-program bus.

In 1995, two inmates escaped in the span of one week. Minimum security inmate Matthew Mark Dennis, who was serving a sentence for petty theft and narcotic-influence, walked away from his work crew without being detected, but was arrested only a few hourse later at a gas station. On Tuesday of that same week, 35-year old Michael Jerome Davis escaped from the James A. Musick Facility in Irvine. He climbed a fence and then hijacked a truck, and was also arrested the same day, but this time after a police pursuit.

In 1988, 33-year old James Caylor pried loose a panel in a Sherriff's Department van, triggering the unlocking feature on the security door, and escaped while the van idled in heavy traffic on Bristol street. After stripping away his prison jumpsuit, Caylor fled to a shopping mall wearing nothing but underwear and tennis shoes.

Caylor was arrested after breaching his parole conditions on a narcotic warrant, and arrested on June 2. He had previous convictions of robbery, burglary, assault, and auto theft.

In 1979, five inmates had escaped from Orange County Jail, one of which surrendered to police on the condition that he visit his sick father in the hospital. The other four inmates, however, were not caught.

In April of 1985, 28-year old Dennis William Smith escaped from Orange County Jail, later kidnapping his girlfriend at knifepoint after police officers tracked the two down to a motel room. He then fled from officers in a high-speed police pursuit through northern San Diego County. He was arrested peacefully shortly after as he disboarded an Amtrak train in Fullerton. His girldfriend was treated in hospital for stab-wounds to the hip and facial lacerations

In 1994, two men successfully escaped by climbing up water pipes to get to the roof. After they escaped they stole a Chevrolet Cavalier, which was later spotted in a McDonald's parking lot later that day. One of the inmates was awaiting an armed robbery trial while the other was being held for assaulting a traffic officer who was issuing him a ticket.

In January of 1986, two inmates overpowered a guard in the exercise area, and then tied electrical cord and blankets together to shimmy four-storeys down the wall of the jail to the ground. Both inmates, awaiting trial for murder, were considered armed and dangerous at the time of their escape.

In a similar escape in 1988, five inmates tied bedsheets together and rappelled down four storeys from the recereation area on the roof when only one of the two guards stationed for the roof was present. This was considered the worst escape in the history of the Orange County Jail at that time, and pointed to flaws that included stationing only one guard for 70 prisoners on the rooftop at one time. Because it is dangerous for a solo guard to perform periodic checks among the inmates on the roof, the officer stands watch in the guard house, opening up potential possibilities for escape. The offences committed by the inmates ranged from burglary to murder.

From 1968 to 1988, at least eight inmates have escaped from the roof by using sheets to rappell down to the ground. The first escape occurred not five days after the jail first opened in 1968, when an inmate crawled under the mesh wire around the roof and used a garden hose to climb down the wall. In 1982, two more inmates escaped, this time climbing through air vents and using bedsheets to shinny down the wall. In 1983, an inmate simply cut the mesh fencing on the roof and got down through the opening.

After escaping from Orange County Jail in 1985, one inmate tried to murder a Fountain Valley police officer, and then escaped by stealing a gun planted by his wife while staying at the UCI Medical Center. Four years later the inmate was captured by FBI in Eight Mile, Alabama, allegedly by a tip from someone who saw his picture on "Unsolved Mysteries."

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