Court documents show what may have led up to McCurtain County jailbreak

Kason Watson claims his brother Kolby Watson admitted to breaking out of and back into jail for 3 days
Published: Feb. 12, 2022 at 11:09 PM CST
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

McCURTAIN COUNTY, Okla. (KSLA) — Court documents reveal much more about the days leading up to when four inmates — with help — broke out of the McCurtain County, Okla., jail a little more than a week ago.

It’s being described as the largest jailbreak in McCurtain County history and the first in more than two decades.

Two of the inmates — Justin Hughes and Jerome Rutherford Jr. — remain at large.

Among the two who have been captured is Kolby Watson.

His brother Kason Watson is being held on $1 million bond after having been arrested for allegedly aiding in the escape. He was helping a contractor doing work inside the jail and purposely left a tool behind to help the four escape, the sheriff has said.

And according to a probable cause affidavit, Kason Watson claims that his brother Kolby Watson came to his house after escaping and admitted that he’d been breaking out of and back into the jail for the past 3 days.

2 of 4 McCurtain County escapees still are on the loose
2 of 4 McCurtain County escapees still are on the loose

Investigators also point out that Kason Watson did not notify the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office about seeing his brother.

The investigators also talked with other inmates about jailer Brandon Stansbury, who also has been arrested.

Those inmates claim that they witnessed Stansbury bringing contraband — including methampetamine — in to inmates in the jail.

The inmates who were interviewed claimed that they’d placed orders for drugs and cellphones and that Stansbury was the middle man delivering them to the McCurtain County Jail.

Lastly, in an interview with Stansbury himself, he claims that inmates threatened to kill his family if he didn’t make these deliveries. He denied knowing what was in the packages.

The documents show that the investigators concluded that the jailer delivered narcotics into the jail and moved inmates — without authorization — to the pod where they escaped. The investigators also reportedly determined that all of the escapes that occurred on the days prior to and the day of the jailbreak occurred when Stansbury was on the shift.

The documents also reveal that another jailer stopped a fifth inmate from escaping with the other four.

The jail is operated by the McCurtain County Jail Trust, not the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office. KSLA News 12′s calls to the jail administration have not been returned.

Below are the arrest affidavits:

Copyright 2022 KSLA. All rights reserved.