TULSA, Okla.– After a week-long manhunt, the search for an inmate who escaped from the Ray County Jail in Henrietta, Missouri, has come to an end.
The Ray County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to FOX4 that 39-year-old Justin Robinson was taken into custody Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Authorities believe Robinson may have been heading to Texas.
Robinson was one of two inmates who escaped the county jail on March 28, after stabbing a correctional officer inside the jail.
Robinson was being held inside the Ray County Jail on multiple assault charges for allegedly stabbing his pregnant girlfriend back in January.
Other Ray County inmates told FOX4 last month they weren’t surprised there was an escape at the county jail.
“Only tin is stopping us from getting in the attic. But I mean, I’m kind of surprised it happened the way it did,” inmate Earl Stackhouse previously told FOX4.
Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said an inmate stabbed a correctional officer using a shank made out of metal pulled from the jail’s crumbling walls.
The Ray County Sheriff’s Department released video of the attack. The jailhouse video shows a corrections officer unlocking a cell and two inmates come out. A struggle ensues, and the inmates stab the officer at least 10 times. The inmates then walk away as the guard staggers behind them.
Childers said he caught one inmate the same night. Twenty-year-old Liam Olinger now faces several charges related to his attempted escape and the assault of the correctional officer.
But a local search for Robinson came up empty.
Childers says Robinson will be sent to a more secure facility and says that may apply in the future to any violent felon.
“When we get more dangerous felons, we’ll probably just look at housing them out from this point on. This building’s about 25 years old and there’s been six successful escape attempts and that’s way too many,” he said.
Childers said he expects Robinson to be charged for stabbing the guard and for the escape and hopes to extradite him back in the coming days.
“My biggest fear was he was going to hurt someone else, or we would get into a standoff with him and someone would get hurt,” he said.
Last week, FOX4 toured the jail he escaped from, seeing the conditions Childers blames for the situation.
In the F-Pod of the Ray County Jail, sharp metal hangs off the ceiling. This is similar to what may have been used to shank the correctional officer. But Childers said there are a lot more issues than that.
Childers blames the issues on outdated designs paired with poor construction.
“Honestly, it’s easy to make any kind of weapon in here. There’s so many — the ceiling, the walls, the bars. If you really wanted to, it’s insanely easy. Just metal everywhere,” Stackhouse said.
Childers previously called on Ray County voters to pass a sales tax to fund a new facility.
“I think everybody in the county realizes we need a new jail. It’s just they don’t want to pay taxes. And I can understand, especially, even from two years ago to now — the economy, everything’s so much higher,” Childers said.
But after the sales tax vote failed, Ray County commissioners are now exploring new options, perhaps applying local recreational marijuana sales taxes to the jail if that ballot question passes. The last tax vote failed by 84%.
“It is not made for what is needed in this day and time. And one of the things that I’ve seen, talking with our residents and everything, is they’re looking for a change. They’re tired of things being the way they always have been,” Presiding Ray County Commissioner Billy Gaines said.
This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.