Two escape Bi-state jail
TEXARKANA, Texas — Two inmates are being sought by law enforcement after escaping the Bi-state jail early Friday.
Wayde Burton Land, 39, and JC Lee Kirby, 38, escaped about 3:05 a.m., according to the Bowie County Sheriff ’s Office. Their escape was discovered during a jail count Friday morning.
A review of surveillance footage confirmed the inmates left the Bi State Building on foot travelling west bound toward Texas Boulevard. Both inmates were wearing street clothes when they escaped the facility.
Information on how the men were able to leave the jail or why they were wearing street clothes was not immediately available Friday.
Kirby was booked into the jail in December 2022 after being arrested for a parole violation, according to jail records.
Land has previously escaped the Bowie County jail annex.
Land was one of two inmates who escaped the night of March 20 or early March 21, 2022, from the second floor of the Bowie County jail annex behind the Bistate Justice Building in downtown Texarkana.
Land and Michael Olson, 30, allegedly broke through cinder block, climbed along pipes and exited through a hole they knocked in an exterior wall, according to police reports.
On the morning of March 21, the men were confronted by two Texarkana Arkansas Police Department officers near 210 East St. after a citizen who recognized Olson flagged an officer down. Land complied with the officers’ commands. Olson did not.
Olson resisted arrest, attempted to flee and was tackled to the ground. During the altercation, Olson was able to gain control of one of the officer’s guns while they struggled on the ground. The officer, realizing that Olson had his service weapon, was able to eject the magazine and discharge the chambered round, according to police.
The second officer fired a shot after Olson continued to ignore commands to comply. Olson died at the scene.
Land is now facing charges of escape while arrested/confined and burglary of a building. The escape charge is a third-degree felony, and the burglary charge is a state jail felony, according to court records.
Anyone who knows the the whereabouts of either of these suspects is asked to call 911 or the Bowie County Sheriff’s office at 903-798-3149.