GALVESTON — State prison officials plan an extensive review of how Joshua Duane Barnes escaped from the seventh floor of a prison hospital on the University of Texas Medical Branch campus, a prison spokeswoman said Monday.
City of Galveston officials also are reviewing notification policies after a communication breakdown that thwarted a public alert, a city spokeswoman said.
“Whenever we have a major incident, we compile a team of prison administrators throughout the state, and they will conduct a review,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said. “They’re going to look at security if something needs to be done differently.”
Both prison and UTMB officials said policies and procedures were followed; however, there are discrepancies in details about who was notified of the escape and when.
Lyons said initial reports from the prison revealed Barnes escaped at 9:50 p.m., but a mistake was made entering the event in military time. Prison officers discovered Barnes missing at 8:50 p.m., Lyons said.
Prison guards called 911 from inside the seven-story tower within 10 minutes of the 8:50 p.m. discovery that Barnes was gone, Lyons said.
Galveston police researched the logs and didn’t find the call.
Galveston Police Chief Charles Wiley and Barry Cook, a Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said state prison officials notified their offices shortly before midnight via a Teletype, a statewide law enforcement database exchange of information.
It was UTMB police who first called the sheriff’s office at 9:06 p.m. and Galveston police at 9:13 p.m., Wiley and Cook said.
Galveston police arrived at the medical branch at 9:20 p.m., Wiley said.
“TDCJ has informed me that their policy is to contact UTMB police, the Department of Public Safety, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office and Galveston police in that order,” Wiley said.
Wiley asked prison officials to change that policy and notify Galveston police immediately after first contacting campus police, Wiley said.
“They have agreed to do that,” Wiley said. “I think their policy about notifications delayed our response.”
Lyons, however, said guards followed policy, which requires them to immediately dial 911.
A 911 call from Galveston would have reached Galveston police dispatchers; however, Lyons said she didn’t know what agency a prison guard spoke with. Galveston police could find no record of a 911 call.
The city of Galveston would have used its emergency notification system, to either call, text or e-mail those signed up for notices with information about the escape, Alicia Cahill, a spokeswoman for the city of Galveston, said.
“The police department took immediate action by saturating the area with officers,” Cahill said. “In their haste to react, they failed to notify their upper command and, unfortunately, this prevented the city from sending an alert through its mass notification system.”
The city will take quick action to ensure important notices and emergency information are appropriately dispatched in the future, Cahill said.
A hospital administrator told charge nurses of the escape shortly before 10 p.m., Raul Reyes, a spokesman with the medical branch, said.
The hospital, however, didn’t send its version of an e-mail, text or phone blast to staff, students and faculty until 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Reyes said.
That decision was made to allow those students and staff members coming to the campus in the morning to be aware of the situation, Reyes said.
Only those affiliated with the medical branch, however, are allowed to sign up for those notifications, Reyes said.
The medical branch relied on state prison officials to notify the public, but medical branch officials will review policies and procedures regarding the incident, Reyes said.
