Crime & Safety
Inmate Jumps Fence at Jail
The Watsonville man was working on a landscaping crew when he escaped Friday morning.
A member of the landscaping crew at made a jail break Friday morning by hopping a fence and running off into the agriculture fields that surround the rural Watsonville detention facility, the Sheriff's Office.
The 26-year-old Watsonville man was serving time for writing bad checks and is considered nonviolent, sheriff's deputy April Skalland said.
He has not been found, Skalland said at 12:30 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Watsonvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The inmate was Ariel Ramirez, the Register Pajaronian newspaper reported. He had been sentenced in December to eight months.
"Basically he jumped the fence and one of the correction officers saw him do it on camera but by they time got out there he was gone," Skalland said.
Find out what's happening in Watsonvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
About five inmates walk away from Rountree, a minimum and medium security jail on Buena Vista Drive that is run by the Sheriff's Office. The men housed there are sentenced to local jail time for nonviolent crimes.
"Occasionally we'll have walk-aways," Skalland said. "Part of the minimum facility is to have that freedom to be outside... but part of that is a trust issue."
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
