Inmates escape from jail's temporary booking area

Two men who managed to escape a temporary holding cell, crawl out a window and run away from the Kitsap County Jail barefoot were still on the run as of Thursday, according to Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Scott Wilson.

Wilson said Kane Boyle, 20, of South Kitsap, and Alvin George Walker, 48, of Bremerton, were waiting to be booked into jail Wednesday at the facility’s temporary intake and booking area. The temporary facility — formerly used to house the Work Release program and inmates — is being used during the jail’s renovation and expansion.

Boyle was awaiting sentencing on a first-degree burglary charge he was convicted of that afternoon, and Walker was being held on $75,000 bail after being arrested for delivery of a controlled substance, Wilson said.

At some point, both suspects managed to leave the holding area — the former “day room” for the Work Release facility — and found their way into one of the sleeping rooms nearby. From there, Wilson said, the suspects removed the framing, weatherstripping and glass from one of the windows and crawled outside.

Because the building was designed for minimum security inmates, its windows are not equipped with advanced security measures, such as bars or steel mesh, Wilson said, adding that jail administrators are taking steps to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Wilson said both Boyle and Walker were wearing street clothes at the time of their escape around 7 p.m., but did not have shoes on.

Boyle is described as a white male, six feet, 200 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Walker is described as a black male, six feet, 215 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

The final stage of the jail expansion project is nearing completion, and Wilson said Chief of Corrections Larry Bertholf expects the renovation work to be completed by the end of next month. At that time, the booking process will be held at its former — now renovated — location.

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