Vermilion Parish sheriff fixes ‘deficiencies’ that allowed Garnica to jump over fence, go missing for eight hours before learning he had escaped

Each new sheriff in Vermilion Parish faces challenges like this and learns from them.
Sheriff Eddie Langlinais and his deputies are now facing tough lessons similar to those of the previous administration.
During his 20 years in office, former Sheriff Mike Couvillon had at least two prisoners escape from the correctional center.
One escape occurred in 2013, when Christopher Dyson, a trusty, climbed the fence during work duty.
In 2015, 26-year-old Carl Striggow ran away while working in the 20-acre garden.
They were all captured not long after they escaped.
Nearly 10 years after Striggow’s escape, another prisoner got out of the correctional center.
Gavin Garnica, who is from Vermilion Parish, escaped last Wednesday at approximately 11:15 p.m. He remained undetected for 8.5 hours and was captured around 48 hours after his escape.
According to Langlinais, deputies at the correctional center did not notice he was missing for 8.5 hours.
During regular bed checks throughout the evening, corrections deputies believed Garnica was asleep and fully covered in his assigned bunk. Later, a review of surveillance footage showed that Garnica had scaled the perimeter fence on the east side of the jail at approximately 11:45 p.m. and fled on foot, but this was discovered only after his absence was noticed.
Because of Garnica’s escape, the Sheriff said his department is correcting the mistakes made at the correctional center that enabled it.
“There were some deficiencies that we later identified,” said Langlinais. “He was in an area he should not have been in. Why did that happen? And then the area he was in, why was it not more secure? But we are looking at hardening those areas and making it better for the public so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Langlinais met with the media on Monday to explain that, when he learned that Garnica had escaped, he called on his connections at the Federal Marshal’s Office and the FBI for help.
Within hours of the phone call, FBI and agents and deputies from the Marshal’s Office were on the ground searching for Garnica outside of the parish.
“By the time we were notified (of his escape), we knew there was no public safety issue. We knew he was not in the area. We knew we tracked him to the Houston area,” Langlinais said.
Langlinais’s deputies found out that Garnica had left the parish and gone to Houston.
Garnica’s sister, Aliva Garnica, is accused of driving him there.
No horn from the jail was sounded to alert the public, because by the time the Sheriff learned of the escape, Garnica was already confirmed to be in Houston.
Langlinais said he felt the public was in no danger because several hours had passed since the escape.
Langlinais indicated that upon assuming office, his primary objective was to protect Vermilion Parish residents. He described public safety as his top priority, followed by ensuring Garnica’s return to custody.