Many security lapses led to escape of Texas inmate accused of killing 5 while on the run, reports find

TL;DR

Authorities fatally shot Lopez on June 2 but not before he had killed 66-year-old Mark Collins and his four grandsons — Waylon Collins, 18; Carson Collins, 16; Hudson Collins, 11; and Bryson Collins, 11 — on the family’s ranch near Centerville, located between Dallas and Houston.Correctional officers failed to use on Lopez a device known as the Body Orifice Security Scanner, or “BOSS chair,” which is designed to quickly detect metallic contraband within body cavities of inmates.“The agency has worked diligently to hold ourselves accountable, identify the failures that led to the escape, and take steps to ensure it never happens again.”On the bus, Lopez, who had killed on behalf of Mexican drug cartels, tried to recruit some of the other 15 prisoners on board to join him, asking them if they were, “ready to rock and roll,” according to the reports by TDCJ and CGL Companies, the outside reviewer.One inmate initially said yes but changed his mind after realizing Lopez planned to kill the two officers on the bus, drive the bus to Interstate 45, hijack a car, murder the occupant, and drive to San Antonio until the search scaled down, according to the reports.CGL said the escape also could have likely been prevented if staff at the Hughes Unit “would have scanned Lopez in the BOSS chair prior to transport, a task that would have added less than a minute onto the process.”The conclusions by the two reviews are similar to many of the findings found in an investigation published earlier this week by the Houston Chronicle and The Marshall Project."

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