How did Gonzalo Lopez escape from prison? Texas inmate who killed 5 was strip-searched by lax guards
HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS: Two reports released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or TDCJ suggest that inadequate strip searches, poorly applied restraints, staffing shortages and an environment in which corrections officers became complacent created the conditions that led to the escape of notorious Texas inmate Gonzalo Lopez, 46 in May. Lopez was serving two life sentences for murdering a man with a pickax in 2006. He was also convicted of attempted murder for shooting a police officer with a gun, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Lopez's escape on May 12 near Centerville, about 120 miles north of Houston, sparked one of the largest search efforts for an escaped inmate in Texas history. Lopez escaped after he got out of his restraints and overpowered the driver of a prison bus, stabbing him in the hand. The bus was carrying 16 prisoners. He then killed a family of five, the 66-year-old Mark Collins and his four grandsons - Waylon Collins, 18, Carson Collins, 16, Hudson Collins, 11, and Bryson Collins, 11 - on the family's ranch near Centerville, located between Dallas and Houston which and also stole a truck from a rural weekend cabin.
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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or TDCJ, launched an internal investigation into the escape as well as recruited an outside agency to undertake an independent investigation. According to both findings, correctional guards who worked at the Hughes Unit, where Lopez was kept, and who were accompanying him on the bus violated protocols by failing to properly strip search him and failing to ensure that his handcuffs were secure and not tampered with, CBS NEWS reported. If proper searches had been conducted, it is likely that they would have discovered what appeared to be a handcuff key that Lopez had hidden in his mouth at one point, as well as two 8-to-10-inch metal weapons that he used to cut through the metal grating of a security door, allowing him to overtake the driver, according to the findings.
"The fact is that if one of these actions was followed in compliance with existing policy, it is likely that the escape could have been prevented," according to an independent review conducted by Miami-based CGL Companies. TDCJ discovered many failures during its internal review: Correctional personnel neglected to employ on Lopez a gadget known as the Bodily Orifice Security Scanner, or "BOSS chair," which is meant to swiftly identify metallic contraband within inmates' body cavities. Lopez's leg shackles were wrongly put, leaving them free. A device that is placed between handcuffs to prevent convicts like Lopez from reaching the keyhole was reportedly not properly positioned and did not cover the keyhole, potentially allowing Lopez to escape.
"Public safety is the core mission of TDCJ, and as an agency, we failed to meet that mission," the agency's Executive Director Bryan Collier said in a statement. "The agency has worked diligently to hold ourselves accountable, identify the failures that led to the escape, and take steps to ensure it never happens again."
For three weeks a manhunt was launched to arrest Lopez. He was put on Texas' 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list with a reward of $15,000 for information leading to his capture. Lopez had an AR-15-style rifle and a pistol that authorities say may have been taken from the cabin when he was killed on June 2 following an exchange of gunfire with authorities south of San Antonio.