Pulaski County explains inmate booking process

Right now, questions remain about how a Pulaski County inmate escaped from jail early Saturday morning.

Dewayne Boykins is back behind bars, but Saturday he managed to trick a jailer by using another inmate's name to escape from the Pulaski County jail. Boykins escaped for ten hours before U.S. Marshals tracked him down in Little Rock.

"These fail-safes are here, and we book in thousands of inmates a year. And, this doesn't happen, this just doesn't happen. So, obviously, there's some type of error here. One of these protocols was not held to," explains Lt. Carl Minden with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office.

It's Boykins second escape. Surveillance video shows him walking right out of the Hot Spring County jail in 2011.

Monday, FOX16 had Minden take us through protocol at the Pulaski County jail. It starts with filling out forms and verifying your ID.

"That's a multiple copy form. It goes all over the place. Then, once you are arrested, you have bags to put your property in," says Minden.

The arresting officer fills out more paperwork, which comes into play when you're released.

"When they're on their way out, this is one thing you're asked. Did you verify the location," explains Minden.

"So that's one of the checks," says FOX16's Kelly Dudzik.

"That's one of the checks. All these things have to be done before the inmate comes out. And then, you initial it. Make sure it's done," says Minden.

Before you hit the holding cell, you get a plastic bracelet.

"We'll put, you know, Kelly Dudzik and white female, DOB. We'll put it on you. Stays on you the whole time," says Minden.

"Do people try to rip it off?" asked Dudzik.

"Oh, I'm sure they do," says Minden.

And, an ID.

"If you want to do anything in this jail, you'd better have this on," says Minden.

Deputies also scan your fingerprints into a county database and a second national database.

"If you've ever been in here before, it brings up all of your past history," he says.

And, they attach your picture to your file.

"When you go to leave, and this file goes back towards the back, then he can verify it through your cards and through your picture," says Minden.

That's just one of several verifications made before you can go free.

"They'll run you one more time through the state-wide system to make sure that you don't have any outstanding warrants," says Minden. "They'll have to buzz you out through that. You'll stand in there and they'll confirm one more time."

But Minden says that bottom line, "If I have a photo of you, and I have a band on you, I should know who you are."

An internal investigation is underway right now to figure out who made the mistake and let Boykins walk out of the jail early Saturday morning.