The Florida State Fire Marshal has returned custody of the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention facility back to the control of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners. The State Fire…
Category: Jail
Inside the Chaos: Inmates Tell What Happened 
During the Jail Explosion
From this week’s edition of the Independent News Eric Stevenson has been busy since the early hours of Wednesday, April 30. The criminal defense attorney has been trying to help his clients…
AP: State attorney says charges are possible in jail blast
Melissa Nelson-Gabriel, AP reporter for Northwest Florida, is doing a great job covering the April 29 explosion at the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention Center. Her interview will State Attorney Bill…
County restricts attorney access to client hurt in the jail blast
Attorneys have reported to the Independent News that Escambia County has placed restrictions on them meeting with clients that were hurt in the April 29 explosion at the county-run Central Booking and…
Families beg for more medical care for loved ones hurt in jail blast
About 30 people gathered Tuesday night for the “Justice For All People†meeting at Powerhouse Assembly of God to share their stories and problems since the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention…
New photos show the flooding at Central Booking and Detention Center
For days, we have been searching of photos that show flooding at the Central Booking Detention Center. County officials have said that it was a little over two feet deep in the…
How the County Commissioners took control of the jail
I went through our reports from last spring and summer on the Department of Justice report, the Escambia County Sheriff’s budget request to meet that report and how the county commissioners voted…
National media probing deeper into jail explosion
AP reporters Melissa Nelson-Gabriel and Tamara Lush wrote today about the long history of problems at the Escambia County Jail: Florida jail that exploded had past problems; 2 killed, nearly 200 injured….
Weekend Buzz: Jail story unfolding
More than 26 inches of water in the basement At the Thursday afternoon press conference, Director of Corrections Gordon Pike told the media that the basement only had 26 inches of water…
County releases the names of inmates at detention center
Escambia County officials have posted the names of the inmates that were in its detention center when it exploded Wednesday night. Here is the list and where they are now being housed:…
Statement from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office
In the wake of Wednesday’s devastating incident at the Escambia County Jail, the Escambia Sheriff’s Office has been inundated with multiple media inquiries from both local and National news outlets seeking information…
Inmates: ‘We were abandoned’
The stories from the inmates trapped inside the county detention center after the explosion are very different from the images Director of Corrections Gordon Pike wanted the media to believe yesterday. We…