Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton After escaping from the county jail and onto the roof of the courthouse, Michael Burham descended here, down the outside of the stairwell on the western side of the Warren County Courthouse.

When Michel Burham escaped from the Warren County Jail, kicking off a 10-day manhunt, a familiar refrain was “how could this possibly happen?”

In the months since the escape, county officials have been largely tight-lipped about what happened, how it happened, and what’s been done at the jail in response to the county’s first jail escape in the facility’s 40 year history.

The Times Observer presented a lengthy slate of questions to the Prison Board in recent weeks.

The responses provide additional perspective on the escape but leave many questions unanswered.

“The fact that the prison is a secure facility makes it difficult to appear ‘transparent’ as leaking information would generate security risks,” Commissioner Jeff Eggleston, writing on behalf of the Prison Board, told the Times Observer.

“However, on its face, the groups involved have done everything they can to comply with all state regulations, state laws and gone above and beyond to execute internal investigations and changes.”

Some of the changes detailed in the county’s response are “changes to access of video footage” as well as “reconfiguring the roof of ‘the yard,’ lighting (and) camera placements.”

Eggleston called the escape an “unfortunate situation” where Burham “utilized two very specific weaknesses in the jail system to facilitate an escape strategy no one has ever attempted or envisioned in four years and could not be easily duplicated.”

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned.

“Burham’s escape was not the result of the complacency of jail administration, the staff on-site the evening of the escape, or any conspiracy,” he added. “It has, however, drawn light on specific structural and policy deficiencies that require remediation.”

For a full story, see Friday’s Times Observer.