All 9 escapees back in custody after St Andrew jail break
Published:Thursday | August 21, 2025 | 6:51 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter -
A day after nine inmates brazenly breached confinement at the St Andrew North Police Division headquarters and made an escape, eight were back in custody up to last night. The ninth was reportedly held early this morning.
The islandwide manhunt for the men yielded success early Wednesday and took investigators to three police divisions - St Catherine North, St Andrew South and Trelawny.
By 7:30 a.m., the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) reported that 19-year-old Richard Bishop of an Olympic Way address, who is charged with burglary and larceny, was captured in the St Andrew South Division.
At 10:30 a.m., a second report from the JCF indicated that 23-year-old Talik Chambers of a Burlington Avenue address, charged with identity theft, was captured.
The police say Chambers was held in the St Catherine North Division.
More success for the police was reported by 1 p.m., when three of the escapees were held in the Trelawny Police Division.
They are 31-year-old Junior Barnes of an Iron River address, 27-year-old Brandon Ennis of a Belvedere address, and 25-year-old Kamal Kelly of a Mannings Hill address.
They are, respectively, charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised ammunition; possession of a prohibited weapon and assault at common law; and using a firearm to commit a schedule offence.
At 7 p.m., the police reported that 25-year-old Donque Douglas was captured.
He is charged with wounding with intent, shooting with intent and malicious destruction of property.
Sometime after 9 p.m., news came in that Fray Messias, 18, of Pinto, Stony Hill, St Andrew, charged with rape, had been taken into custody.
The police said that, around 1:30 this morning, Alanzo Espute, 19, of Cassava Piece, Kingston 8, who is charged with murder.
Espute was brought to the Yallahs Police Station by a relative from the Aeolus Valley area.
The Gleaner was first to report early Tuesday that nine men escaped custody at the lock-up.
Reports are that the men cut open an area at the Constant Spring Police Station lock-up.
An alarm was raised after routine checks were made and the men discovered missing sometime after 1 a.m.
One of the escapees, 46-year-old David Rhoden of a Malvern Avenue address, was recaptured moments after he escaped custody.
Sources told The Gleaner that the police were short-staffed and the lock-up was overcrowded, which could not be ignored as factors that led to the men managing to escape.