By Tom Eldred, Delaware State News
DOVER - Robert Snyder, who retired two years ago as warden at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna, questioned the security under which Myron D. Price was being transported Tuesday morning.
Price, 28 of Ellendale, escaped from DOC transportation officers as he was being taken to the Kent County Courthouse for trial on multiple felony charges.
If convicted on all charges, Price faced a maximum 268 years behind bars. He was serving an eight-year sentence for trafficking cocaine when he escaped.
"It sounds to me like the officer letting him out of that van wasn't alert,'' Mr. Snyder said. "If he's shackled and handcuffed when they let him out, he won't get very far.''
Mr. Snyder asked if Price was handcuffed to another inmate during the transport process, considering the seriousness of the charges against him.
"For good security he should have been handcuffed to another inmate,'' he said. "That was my policy. I'd learned that many, many years ago from an incident in Wilmington.''
Elizabeth Welch, a spokeswoman for DOC, said she was unsure if Price had been cuffed to another prisoner.
She said he was shackled and handcuffed when he was placed in the van but was not cuffed or shackled when he escaped.
She said DOC does not know how Price disengaged the handcuffs and ankle shackles.
"That's something we're most interested in finding out,'' she said.
Mr. Snyder said DOC did not have enough officers in the prison van for the number of inmates being transported to Dover.
"They should have had more security there,'' he said. "That was standard policy as far as I was concerned, especially if you were transporting anybody dangerous.
"They were understaffed for that many inmates going out into the public. They need more staff. It's that simple.''
State Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, is a former state commissioner of correction.
He said Corrections Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor phoned him Tuesday morning to inform him of Price's escape.
"Stan told me he was handcuffed and shackled when he was put in the van,'' Sen. Vaughn said. "Obviously, something happened after he got inside.''
From his experience, Sen. Vaughn said there are several ways to transport inmates, depending on security circumstances.
"If somebody was a real security risk, you may want to transport him by himself,'' he said.
Sen. Vaughn said he is not aware that DOC has made any additional staffing requests for its inmate transportation unit.
"It hasn't come through the budget process that I know of,'' he said. "But sometimes the real needs never come to the Joint Finance Committee. They go to the budget office first.''
Deputy state budget director Robert L. Scoglietti said DOC has not requested additional funding for inmate transportation in its fiscal 2005 budget.
Mrs. Welch said Mr. Taylor was not available for comment Tuesday because he was at a DOC command center in Sussex County assisting in the search for Price.
She said DOC's transportation supervisor was also assisting in the search and unavailable for comment.
The senator praised DOC transportation officers for their overall job performance.
"They have a hell of a job to do,'' he said. "The courts want the (inmates) there when they want them and that's it. They don't give a damn how you get them there.''
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky contributed to this article.
Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or teldred@newszap.com
