NC inmate release leads to new rules at SC jail

YORK, S.C. (AP) — The York County Sheriff’s Office says a review of how a convicted killer from North Carolina was allowed to walk out of the York County jail after dealing with minor drug charges found all the jail’s employees followed the rules.

So the sheriff’s office is putting in new rules, including paperwork that specifies a prisoner is to be returned and a requirement that its inmates wear orange jumpsuits when being transferred between prisons.

Thomas Whitlock was serving a 14-year sentence for a Charlotte, N.C., murder when he came to York County in February to face a drug possession charge. After a judge sentenced him to the 19 days he served in South Carolina, the jail let him go.

The 31-year-old inmate was found in Texas four days later.