MACON, Ga. — The Bibb County Sheriff's Office says Chavis Stokes, 29, is back in the jail after escaping 11 days ago.
They say U.S. Marshals caught him Thursday afternoon at a home in Montezuma. Sheriff David Davis says it gives investigators renewed vigor, but he acknowledges there's more work to do.
Friday, Stokes faced a Bibb County Magistrate Court judge with a new charge: Escape. According to the Georgia Code, Stokes could face up to five years in prison for escaping the jail. If investigators find he had a weapon during the escape, he could face up to 20 years.
"We've got one. We've got three more to go. It shows we can get one, we can get the rest of them. And we will get them," Davis said.
Davis sat down with 13WMAZ Thursday for the first time since the escape. He provided more details about the night of the escape. It's a night where several things went wrong, he says.
"There's any given number of them on any given day. There's several on a cell block that may or may not be working," Davis said, talking about cell locks.
Davis says malfunctioning locks and cell doors were one of the main problems leading to the escape. He says the four inmates were housed in the oldest, most run-down section of the jail.
The sheriff says it should be the most secure if everything is working properly.
"On that block, I don't know if any of them were working. They had been jimmied and opened up," Davis said.
Cameras were another problem. Davis says it's common to see their lenses covered with hair gel, blocked with paper, or ripped out of the wall.
"The cameras had been tampered with. We're getting those back up to speed, getting those cameras working," Davis said.
He says contractors have been in and out of the jail fixing them and other parts of the building.
"There's been some structural modifications to some of the cell block areas to where inmates can't pass items from one cell block to another," Davis said.
The new jail major, Chris Patterson, is already working on staffing updates, Davis said. Several jailers called out the night of the escape, he said, but Patterson has new rules in place.
"The new major has put out a directive that there is at least a lieutenant working in every shift. We're hoping to sure that up back in the jail so that we have adequate supervision," Davis said.
The sheriff says while failing jail infrastructure wasn't the only reason for the escape, it highlights the need for a new facility.
Mayor Lester Miller said last week he wants to put a new jail on the next SPLOST.
On Thursday afternoon, the sheriff said his staff is already planning for what a new jail might look like. Davis says he's looking forward to collaborating with county commissioners on those plans.