According to information provided by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office, an inmate being held in connection with the 2011 shooting of U.S. Marshal Warren Lewis tried to escape from jail last week.
On March 13 around 3:30 p.m., workers were prepping the old inmate visitor room for the installation of new video visitation units. Although the workers advised the jail staff they were removing the thick glass that separates public visitors from the male inmates, the workers actually removed one piece of glass in the female section in a different room.
The female section is partitioned by block walls from the male inmate visitation side. The inmate — Kevin Slade — referred to in earlier press releases/interviews as Devine Slade, 18 — was placed into an empty female inmate visitation room because of a plumbing issue in the inmate’s cell. The detention officer did not know the small viewing window on the female inmate side had been removed. Slade reportedly squeezed through the window and exited the public room into a secure hallway.
“The inmate was quickly seen on the courthouse surveillance cameras and was then confronted by an investigator in the secure hallway,” said Chief Deputy Chris Hill.
Hill said Slade then went back into the visitation room, which caused the visitation room door to lock behind him, thus preventing entry by the investigator.
“The inmate then squeezed through the window on the public side of the visitation booth into the inmate side,” Hill said. “A jailer then removed the inmate from the inmate side of the room and took him back to his cell.”
Slade was charged with misdemeanor escape and not felony escape because he is a pretrial detainee. Slade is being held in the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office in connection with the June 2011 murder of U.S. Marshal Warren Lewis. For the attempted escape, Slade was issued a $1,000 bail, although he’s been held without bail for previous charges since June of 2011.
In December, Slade was charged with malicious conduct by a prisoner and assault on a government employee. He allegedly threw “a bowl of bodily fluids and excrement” at the jailer passing by his cell at the Lenoir County Jail. A magistrate was called in and placed Slade under a $50,000 bond for the incident. Slade was processed and placed back in his cell.
According to the LCSO, all upgrades to the visitation area of the old jail are complete. Slade has been transferred to the N.C. Department of Corrections due to disciplinary issues the jail staff had experienced with Slade.
“While our staff was processing and searching Slade before the transport, detention officers found that Slade possessed a small piece of metal “shank” that could have been used as a weapon,” Hill said.
“While the security breach should have never happened, a lack of understanding about how the visitation areas were designed led to this attempted escape,” Hill said. “Our surveillance systems coupled with our observant staff quickly stopped this inmate from escaping.”