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The California Department of Justice found no criminal wrongdoing by San Benito County Jail staff in the case of an inmate who escaped on May 28, according to San Benito County Sheriff Eric Taylor. He said the escape was a result of lazy or sloppy work by staff.
“I called in the Department of Justice to do an external, independent investigation of my staff,” Taylor said, “because the whole thing was strange and because I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any criminal activity.”
Jail Commander Thomas Corral said the Department of Justice’s investigation was completed at the end of summer. Taylor said given the findings and what he knows from an ongoing internal investigation, it was decisions made by the officer in charge that allowed Daniel Lopez Zavala to escape.
“As far as I feel right now, it was laziness and a lack of attention to detail that led to the person being able to escape our custody,” Taylor said.
He said he believed limited staffing in the jail did not affect the officer’s decision-making. The staffing shortage led the sheriff to partially close the second jail building in June.
However, Taylor said Lopez Zavala would likely not have been alone if there were more staff working.
Lopez Zavala escaped around 2 a.m. and was apprehended about 30 hours later. He was part of a janitorial service program which allows inmates to earn credits for time spent in jail.
The internal investigation is being conducted by Gary Hosman, an administrative service specialist.
Taylor said the jail’s internal investigation has been delayed because the staff member Hosman needs to interview is on leave for an unrelated matter. He added the officer was placed on administrative leave during the Department of Justice investigation.
He said he hopes the internal investigation will be completed soon but did not provide a timeline.
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