Two escaped D.C. jail inmates recaptured

updated 1:09 a.m. ET June 5, 2006

WASHINGTON - Both inmates who escaped from the District of Columbia Jail through a broken window were captured Sunday, officials said.

One inmate was found at a hotel in Alexandria, Va.; the second was apprehended after a short chase in Seat Pleasant, Md., according to police and the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. Both were being kept in jail in Alexandria, Va.

Joseph Leaks, 32, and Ricardo Jones, 25, were awaiting trial in connection with a shooting last July in the District.

The inmates left the jail by entering an administrative office and breaking a window just before 10:30 a.m. Saturday, said Devon Brown, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections. The jail was put on lockdown after the escape.

An officer arriving for work chased the two men, but lost them in the area of a Metro station not far from RFK Stadium. Both men were wearing blue prison jumpsuits.

“This is very, very troubling,” said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the jail. “Nobody should be able to get out of the jail. That’s the whole point. This sounds like it was too easy.”

Jones was charged with first-degree murder and Leaks was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice; both also face weapons charges.

The two are also wanted in North Carolina, where they are accused of shooting a security officer in Greensboro, N.C. Police Sgt. Joe Gentile said.

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