Jail Escape Attempt Not The First For Golden Facility
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4) - It was a daring, but failed escape attempt. Two people threw a bag of rocks over the fence at the Campus at Lookout Mountain, previously known as Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center, in Golden. It had a rope attached to it.
At that moment youths were being transferred from their residence to breakfast.
Ernesto Ontiveros, 18, who was being held for attempted murder made a break for the fence, according to police.
"One of the maintenance staff on the facility heard a gunshot, the words 'get back' and a second gunshot," Sgt. Denise Mehnert of the Golden Police Department said.
No one was injured, police responded, but the two apparent accomplices wearing dark clothes were able to get away in a gold Lexus that had a bike rack. Staff prevented the fleeing inmate from getting out.
Neighbors in the area say such a frightening scenario is familiar over the years.
"Every once in a while we would get an alert, and we would have to go into a lockdown because someone had escaped or tried to escape," said one woman who grew up there and did not want her name or face used.
In mid-2019, one inmate escaped using sheets. He was captured two months later. Earlier that same year, 10 staff members were hurt after a riot erupted.
Now, the jail also has a new approach.
"They have broken them into pods, individual leadership over each of the sections," Golden Deputy Chief Joe Harvey said.
There are now four smaller facilities inside with new furniture, a mesh anti-climbable fence and drug wanding.
What happened now is being called the first significant event in the past five years.
Ontiveros was arrested during the incident, and it's being held in the Jefferson County Jail as an adult on new charges of attempted escape.
