Miami Jail Sees Another Daring Escape

MIAMI – An inmate apparently scaled a razor-wire fence and escaped Tuesday from the same jail complex where an accused serial rapist used tied-up bed sheets to flee last month, police said.

Rodney T. Buckles, 25, was being held at a building in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a misdemeanor battery charge when he escaped, according to Miami-Dade County police and a state court Web site. Police didn't release details of how he allegedly got out of his cell.

Three corrections officers were relieved of duty after officials determined they didn't follow jail procedures properly, County Manager George Burgess told reporters. They will likely by fired, he said.

Buckles was reported missing around 7:30 a.m. when officers were doing a head count of inmates who were being brought to make court appearances, chief police spokeswoman Linda O'Brien said. He apparently climbed the fence and it was unclear if he was injured, she said.

Burgess and Charles McRay, director of the Miami-Dade Corrections Department, said a review was under way to determine how the escapes happened and to create tighter security to prevent further breakouts.

On Dec. 20, Reynaldo E. Rapalo fled a different building at the jail by prying open a ceiling vent, cutting through bars and rappelling down the side of the building using the sheets, police said. He was recaptured six days later after a tipster called with a description of the fugitive outside a video store in southwest Miami.

Rapalo, 34, was awaiting a February trial on felony counts of sexual battery and other charges that could have sent him to prison for life when he escaped. He is accused of sexually assaulting seven women and girls, ranging from 11- to 79-years-old.

Two corrections officers were placed on administrative leave following the escape, but officials said they were not involved in the breakout.

McRay said then that his agency was "taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again." He also ordered all vents at the Knight jail welded shut and that lighting be improved.