An escape incident earlier this year has landed the Karnes County jail on the state’s non-compliance watch list, according to a report issued recently by the Texas Commission on Jails Standards.

The TCJS hasn’t performed its annual on-site inspection of the Karnes County jail this year, but the February 9 escape and re-capture of 22-year-old Jason Cruz was enough to land them on the state’s naughty list.

"We’ve not been inspected, yet. We’re still on their probation list until they inspect us again and this time, they’re really going to look at us," Karnes County Chief Deputy A.C. Alonzo said. "We passed inspection last year without any difficulties. We’re going to pass (this year). Before the month is out, you will know whether we passed or not."

Alonzo also said several measures have already been taken to patch up the security holes that allowed Cruz’s escape.

"We wrote them up on the escape," Texas Commission on Jails Standards Director Adan Munoz told the Victoria Advocate. "Our finding was that it was due to a lack of supervision and as a result we placed the jail on the non-compliance list. We are waiting for them to provide us with notification of corrective action, but we’ll probably hold them in non-compliance until we perform a full, on-site inspection later this year."

Cruz’s escape happened as a result of both personnel error and a lack of physical security at the jail, according to Karnes County Sheriff David Jalufka. Eight hours after being booked in on drug charges February 8, Cruz left his jail cell under supervision to use the toilet, he said.

When he was returned to the cell, his guard secured the door using the sliding latch, but did not lock the keyed bolt. It was then that, according to Jalufka, Cruz reached his arm through an opening in the door to slide back the latch and free himself.

Since Cruz’s recapture, the opening has been sealed with high-density plastic glass and the jailer responsible for not securing the cell properly has been fired.