BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Texas prisons to resume transportation with heightened security

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

Testing widget old system

Lorenzo shared

(NewsNation) — Texas prison system officials will resume inmate transportation Monday with tougher security after a convicted murderer escaped a prison van and killed five people while on the run, officials said.

Three corrections officers will ride in each transport instead of the previously standard two,  the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement. High-risk inmates will no longer be allowed to travel with other inmates, and new video surveillance equipment will be installed.

The raised security measures come after convicted murderer Gonzalo Lopez escaped from his Texas prison van last month, then killed a grandfather and his four grandsons. On May 12, Lopez broke out of his restraints and cage, stabbed the bus driver and sparked the largest manhunt in Texas history. In response, Texas officials had stopped all non-emergency transportation. Law enforcement officers shot and killed Lopez in South Texas earlier this month.


Inmates have always been strip-searched before being transported, but now officials are implementing new enhanced searches of inmates, prison system spokesman Jason Clark said Sunday. He declined to say what form the enhanced searches would take.

Meanwhile, a previously announced independent security review of what allowed Lopez to escape would continue by an outside party, according to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice statement.

Southwest

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Site Settings Survey

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Cloudy

la

65°F Cloudy Feels like 65°
Wind
0 mph E
Humidity
77%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
61°F Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
6 mph W
Precip
8%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous