BURGLAR IS JAIL'S 2ND ESCAPEE IN WEEK

A Utah County Jail inmate who walked away from the jail's kitchen after stabbing a fellow inmate Monday is the second man to escape from the jail in a week.

Kenneth W. Sharrer, serving a one-year sentence for burglary, was on trustee status at the jail and had been assigned to work in the kitchen. He escaped at about 6:30 a.m. while on duty.Utah County Sheriff Dave Bateman said Shar-rer became involved in a confrontation with another inmate and apparently stabbed him in the neck. The injured man was taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. He remained in stable condition Monday night.

After the fight, Sharrer fled out the back door of the kitchen and over the west jail fence. He was apprehended at 1:15 p.m. Monday near the railroad tracks west of the jail.

Bateman said an auto salvage owner saw the man running down the tracks without a shirt. He was wearing white kitchen clothing when he escaped.

The Utah County sheriff's office and Provo police spent Monday combing the area for the man. A public safety helicopter and airplane checked railroad and salvage yards as well as building roofs and mountains. A K-9 team also assisted in the search.

Bateman said the May 8 escape can be attributed to lack of personnel and supervision caused from overcrowding at the jail. Monday's escape can also be attributed to the staff shortage at the jail, but not entirely.

"From time to time you have these kind of things happen when an inmate is in a trustee-type position. There is not a lot we can do about it. He was not in a secure portion of the jail and was under direct supervision of the cooking staff."

Members of the cooking staff, however, are not trained as peace officers. If the kitchen had been fully staffed, a custody officer would have been there, he said.

Last week William T. Leon escaped from the jail's outdoor recreation area. He was serving a short sentence for retail theft and was awaiting trial on an auto-theft charge. He remains at large.

Leon's escape is only the third in 12 years from the jail's secured area and wouldn't have happened if the jail weren't understaffed, Bateman said. The day Leon escaped, supervisory staff members were busy processing approximately 20 people arrested during early morning drug raids.

Since 1986, the jail's average daily population has increased from 92.6 to 118.8 in 1988; the average for women nearly doubled during the same period, jumping from 4.3 to 8.2.

Because of the increasing numbers of jail inmates, county officials must either remodel the existing jail to accommodate more inmates or build a new facility to meet growing inmate populations, Bateman said.