Jailbreak Reveals Transferred Inmates

Texas officials threatened to take action against a private prison after a jailbreak revealed that 244 sex offenders from Oregon were being held there. Jail officials did not notify Houston police for at least two hours after the escape of two men, one a convicted sexual abuser and the other a rapist, a Houston Police Department spokesman said. A spokesman for jail owner Corrections Corp. of America, based in Nashville, Tenn., could not be reached for comment. The company was holding the prisoners under a contract with Oregon, officials said. It was not clear why the prisoners were in Texas, but news reports said Corrections Corp. began shipping the sex offenders to Houston in April without notifying law enforcement authorities here. State Sen. John Whitmire said he would urge that the sex offenders be moved back to Oregon and that Texas enact laws preventing prisoners from other states to be housed here.