Houston, we have a problem
Dec. 9, 2005

If you're a convicted double murderer and are planning to bust out of jail, take this tip from Charles Victor Thompson: don't drink and flee.

Maybe you've read about Thompson. He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. While being held in the Harris County Jail awaiting transport to the state pen, he simply walked out. He was arrested three days later in Shreveport, drunk and talking on a pay phone outside a liquor store.

The day he escaped, Thompson met with a lawyer in the jail.  After the meeting, he somehow slipped off his handcuffs, doffed his orange jailhouse coveralls and put on civilian clothes. He then walked out of the room, waved a fake ID at no fewer than four jail employees and hit the street. After that, he was eastbound and down.

If Thompson had gotten a little farther, or just waited a few days before getting trashed, he might still be a free man. I realize the Harris County Sheriff's Office isn't exactly Alcatraz but Thompson's escape makes the staff there look more like someone straight out of Andy Griffith – Barney Fife comes to mind.

I'm no expert on crime and punishment but I have to think that having a convicted double murderer simply walk out (not sneak out, not bust out, not shoot his way out) of your jail is probably an indication that your security is not what it might be.

This story also makes you think maybe the Harris County Sheriff's Office needs to tighten up its recruiting standards. One deputy said, "There is no scenario under which [Thompson] should be free roaming around on the street." Thompson killed his ex-girlfriend and her new beau, so I'd have to agree that there's no scenario under which he should be free roaming around on the street. I'd also have to say there's no scenario under which this deputy should be carrying a loaded gun.  A gun, maybe, and one bullet – tucked safely in a shirt pocket – but not a loaded gun.

The same deputy attributed the escape to "multiple errors" by jail personnel. That's like the captain of the Titanic attributing the ocean liner's sinking to "taking on a little ice."

John Donaghy, the brother of the woman Thompson killed, said Thompson must have had help to make his escape. "There's no way Chuck had the brain power for this. He's not the sharpest pencil in the box."

It's also not clear how Thompson got to Shreveport, but I wouldn't be surprised if he caught a ride with a Harris County deputy sheriff -- one named Barney.