BROOKVILLE -- The escape of James B. Schubert, 46, DuBois, from the work release program at the Jefferson County jail June 14 will bring about changes in the program. 

During a Jail Board meeting Monday, Warden David J. Riley said he, Deputy Warden Tom Elbel and some other staff members will conduct a post-incident assessment.

“We’ll assess our response as to what happened, what we did wrong and what we can do better next time, just to make sure that anything that is similar to this incident won’t happen again,” Riley said. “All in all, I feel every agency involved handled it well, and I want to see if there were any mistakes made or if anything could have been done better.”

Schubert failed to return from work release June 14, and two days later, surrendered and returned to the jail.

Riley said charges are pending, and there’s an investigation being conducted.

Judge John H. Foradora said one of the problems that has to be fixed is the inmate never did show up for work that day.

“We realized at the jail that Schubert was missing two hours after he did not return from work release that day,” Riley said. “That’s another part of our assessment, which is to get a better feel as to when an inmate is supposed to return. 

“When it was discovered he was missing, we locked the jail down. We wanted to make sure it wasn’t one of those situations where he came back in and someone forgot to log him in,” Riley said.

He added that from that point on, it went seamlessly.

“I have to take my hat off to the 911 Center,” Riley said. “We gave them all the information and a photo of Schubert, and they sent it out to every law enforcement agency in the area.”

Foradora said a memo has been sent to all employers so that they know that if a work-release inmate doesn’t show up for work, they’re should call the jail immediately.

“Sometimes, they’re delayed, most of the time the employers are quick to call,” Foradora said. “I think what happened was none of the main supervisory staff was there on a Saturday and there was a shift supervisor who never called to report that Schubert had not shown up.”

Foradora said everyone should be commended, as Riley and Elbel talked Schubert back into jail during a telephone conversation through Schuebert’s girlfriend, Melissa Schaffer, who called the jail.

Riley said it was a matter of getting the information out there.

“It was really a good training tool,” Riley said. “Nobody got hurt, and no other crimes were committed that we know of.”

Riley also commended the news media for getting Schubert’s name and his photo out in the public quickly.