On Monday, the Milwaukee County Jail inmate who set off a sprawling search in and around Columbia St. Mary’s hospital was sentenced to three years in prison. Sheriff David Clarke, unhappy with the decision, responded with great ire on Tuesday by releasing a photo of the hole officers made (apparently by using tools and their bare hands) to pluck Keyon Westlan from where he was hiding behind two walls. He escaped from the officer originally charged with his care after the deputy released his handcuffs, so Westlan could go to the bathroom.
Westlan ran out of the building he was in and into another on the hospital’s campus, where he climbed up into the ceiling of a bathroom. There, he slid between the two walls and remained hidden until police discovered his location and broke through one of the walls (seen below), creating a man-shaped opening. About five hours passed between Westlan’s admission to the hospital at 11 p.m. on May 1 and his capture at 4 p.m.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department has not said why Westlan was admitted to the hospital, though he was being held on a charge of possession of heroin. Prosecutors later added charges of bail jumping and escape, both felonies, and Westlan was released on electronic monitoring as his case was tried. It ended with guilty pleas on all three counts and the plea deal was finalized on Monday.
Clarke said the sentence was approximately one-sixth of the maximum possible. “I don’t think that serving 50 percent of the exposure of 19 years would have been unreasonable in this case,” he said.
Westlan’s hiding place
