Loose key helped in cellblock escape
By Scott Ishikawa and Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writers
Honolulu police officers assigned to the Alapa'i station basement cellblock could face discipline for leaving out security door keys that allowed a prisoner to escape Monday night, an assistant police chief said yesterday.
Nineteen-year-old Jessie K. Dutro, who was charged Sunday with auto theft, walked out of Central Receiving's cellblock area shortly before 8 p.m. Monday by manipulating the manual lock to his cell door, then using keys left unattended to open two security doors, police said.
Jessie Dutro escaped from the basement cellblock at the Honolulu Police Department's Alapai station.
It is the first time a prisoner has escaped from the Central Receiving cellblock. The Honolulu Police Department moved to its Alapa'i facility in August 1992.
Assistant chief Stephen Watarai, head of HPD's Central Patrol Bureau, yesterday said Monday's escape appeared to be a combination of officer error and a faulty prison cell door lock. Police are conducting an investigation on what went wrong, he said.
"Officers are supposed to have custody of the keys at all times and they were left unattended," Watarai said. Disciplinary action may be taken against any officers at fault.
Watarai said police officers did not intentionally assist Dutro in getting free.
Dutro was reported missing at 7:55 p.m when his cellblock door was found open. Officers are required to check cellblocks every 10 minutes, and police believe it may have been five minutes before they realized Dutro had taken off.
Watarai said Dutro was in his cell with three other prisoners when he jiggled open a faulty cell door lock.
"The auxiliary lock to that cell was apparently not properly securing the door shut," said Watarai, who added that the door locks to all 58 cells are being inspected.
After getting out of his cell, Dutro walked about 20 feet to the main cellblock area and took a set of three unattended security keys that unlocked two more doors leading to an entranceway, police said.
Dutro, who left the keys behind, then headed down a 50-foot-long hallway before running out of the police station garage onto Beretania Street.
Seventeen officers were on duty at the Central Receiving Division at the time of Dutro's escape, with 76 prisoners being held in the police cellblock, police said.
Dutro was arrested Saturday in Hale'iwa after fleeing from police at Sunset Beach in a stolen car, and charged with auto theft, police said. They said he was also wanted on two outstanding court warrants, two counts of abuse of a family member and second-degree theft before his arrest Saturday.
He is described as 5 feet 11, 170 pounds and with a large mole under his right eye. Before escaping, he was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts. Dutro has no permanent local address, but is known to frequent the Waimanalo area.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.
