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Guards suspended after accused rapist's jailbreak
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSMIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Two corrections officers have been suspended with pay following the escape of a suspected serial rapist from a Miami jail, according to a Thursday memo from the head of the county corrections department. One of the officers was assigned to the unit from which Reynaldo Elias Rapalo escaped and the other patrolled the perimeter, Charles McRay, director of the Miami-Dade County Corrections Department, said in the memo. The memo, which was written to County Manager George Burgess, states that two of the 23 cameras on the jail's roof were not working and that six of the 247 cameras inside the jail needed servicing. Measures have been taken to tighten security, including repairing the cameras and welding shut vent covers, the memo adds. Officials suspect that Rapalo and another inmate were able to escape by crawling through a vent. (Watch city officials issue a warning about the escape -- 2:36) The second escapee was captured on the roof and appeared to have a broken leg, authorities said. Rapalo, a 34-year-old Honduran who was in the country illegally on an expired visa, is linked to a string of 2002 and 2003 attacks on women ranging in age from 11 to 77, police have said. At the time of his arrest in 2003, which followed a months-long manhunt focusing mostly on the city's Little Havana area, authorities said he was linked to at least one of the assaults by DNA. He faces life in prison if convicted. Rapalo was being held at the Miami-Dade County Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Rewards totaling $16,000 have been offered for his capture. CNN's Rich Phillips contributed to this story.
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