Guards commended for response to escape attempt
Fayette County Prison Board members commended prison guards Wednesday for successfully putting an end to an attempted escape by three inmates on May 14. “The guards handled the attempted escape beautifully,” said District Attorney Nancy Vernon, a member of the board.
She said prison Warden Larry Medlock deserves credit for the corrections officers’ response to the incident.
“The guards did a fantastic job,” said Sheriff Gary Brownfield, chairman of the prison board.
Medlock said the guards did a great job.
He said the three male inmates involved in the incident are being held in other prisons.
State police filed numerous charges against the inmates, John Michael Vanorsdale, 37, of Connellsville; Jeffrey Wayne Tarpley Jr., 32, of Uniontown; and Jonathan Raymond Jordan, 19, of Uniontown.
Police said they hid in a shower and jumped guard Tammie Popiesh as she escorted prison trustee Bruce Balsega Jr. to the shower area to retrieve some cleaning supplies following the 10 p.m. lockdown.
They sprayed Popiesh in the face with a fire extinguisher, removed her handcuffs, cuffed her to a railing, gagged her with a torn piece of bed sheet and tied a towel around her head.
The inmates used the extinguisher to break two windows to try to escape, but an exterior wall prevented them from leaving.
Next, they sprayed the extinguisher at the guards who responded, but were subdued after fighting with the officers.
Popiesh’s keys fell during the melee and slid into another inmate’s cell, but the inmate returned the keys to guards.
Other inmates tossed towels to Popiesh after she was sprayed with the fire extinguisher.
In other business, the board hired six part-time corrections officers at $12.90 an hour to replace three who recently resigned and three who resigned some time ago. The hirings restored the number of part-time guards to 10.
The board hired Amanda Wolfe, Shryl Martin, Jason Swaney, Joshua Smith, Gabriel Naleplea and Ronald Isler.
The inmate population report showed the prison had 253 inmates this month. The same number was reported last May.
Medlock said there are no Fayette County inmates being housed in prisons in other counties.