Henderson County jail inmate unsupervised when he escaped
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HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Henderson County Sheriff Brian Duke says an inmate, who is being held on violent charges, was unsupervised when he jumped the fence 9 days ago. “Sometimes we can get too comfortable knowing there’s a fence with razor wire around this place. You think that may always try to contain them and obviously it didn’t,” Sheriff Duke said. Now big changes are being made to jail protocol. On June 21, the Sheriff said David Pullam scaled the fence when he was allowed to take out the trash alone. Pullam had been working in the kitchen as a dishwasher. “He was allowed to work in the kitchen but not outside the facility and when he had that rare opportunity to take the garbage off, he jumped on the opportunity to run,” Sheriff Duke said. As a violent offender, held on counts like aggravated robbery and aggravated assault, Sheriff Duke said Pullam should not have been allowed to take out the trash. Duke believes supervisors had grown to trust Pullam. Now all inmates must be supervised at all times. “They’re under direct supervision even if they’re doing something as simple as washing the patrol car,” Sheriff Duke said. Now inmates can only meet through video feed. Duke believes Pullam and his girlfriend, Sandra Elkins, planned the escape during a visit. She is charged with facilitating an escape. “We’ll look at our practices and our policies and make sure everything we do is correct and we don’t want to allow an opportunity for an inmate to see a weakness. We want to know those weaknesses before they do,” Sheriff Duke said. Sheriff Duke said Pullam is now considered a security risk inmate and spends 23 hours a day in a cell. Pullam and Elkins will be arraigned in court Tuesday morning.
