ST. ANN, MO (KTVI) - The search is on for an inmate who escaped from the jail in St. Ann in a case of mistaken release.
According to St. Louis County police, 32-year-old Jemayle Johnson escaped around 10:30 p.m. Monday night after being arrested around 3:30 a.m. that day on misdemeanor warrants from St. Ann and Bellefontaine Neighbors, as well as a probation violation for a felony drug charge.
At the time of his escape, Johnson was in a holding cell with two other prisoners. A corrections officer came to release one of the prisoners. When the officer called out for the prisoner, Johnson lied and identified himself as the prisoner that was to be released. In truth, the inmate that was to be released was asleep, police said.
The corrections officer failed to follow standard protocol, including checking an inmate against a booking photo of the person being released. That person was eventually released.
Johnson is described as an African-American man with two gold teeth. He was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt with a white emblem of some kind on the front of it. He had on blue jeans and has multiple tattoos on his body and face. He was last seen walking east on St. Charles Rock Road from the jail.
If you have any information on Jemayle Johnson's whereabouts, you're asked to call St. Ann police.
Meanwhile, it's unclear what--if any--disciplinary action the corrections officer will face.
