Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says they have changed the way they transport inmates in and out of the sally port at the jail, where Deputy Mark Burbridge was shot to death and Deputy Pat Morgan was wounded on May 1.
On Tuesday Wesley Correa-Carmenaty was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty, which spared the victims and everyone involved in the case from going to trial.
Danker says the shock and sadness of what happened that day is still being felt and they are using lessons they learned that day to make the jail garage area safer.
Danker says they no longer will allow both deputies to lock their guns in the van while loading and unloading inmates in the sally port.
"At this time, one of the deputies will step back away and be armed and the other deputy will secure his weapon, get them out, get them secured in the jail facility and the other deputy will secure his weapon and then go in," Danker said.
Danker says they are also looking at getting a body scanner that could detect hidden contraband. "Clearly, the lesson is you can never, ever at all let your guard down with some of these folks," Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber says.
Wilber says somehow, perhaps from another inmate, Correa-Carmenaty got a handcuff key that he kept hidden in his hair and freed himself during the ride from the courthouse back to the jail.
When Burbridge opened the van door to get the inmate out, Correa-Carmenaty came out of the van with no handcuffs or shackles and attacked Burbridge with two homemade shanks. Chief Deputy County Attorney Jon Jacobmeier says Correa-Carmenaty then ran around to the driver's side door of the van, which was unlocked.
"So now it becomes a race for the guns," Jacobmeier says. Burbridge was shot as he opened the passenger side door while Morgan tried to pull Correa-Carmenaty out of the drivers side. Morgan was then shot in the stomach before Jacobmeier says the gun jammed. Correa-Carmenaty drove the van through the door and was arrested after a pursuit in Omaha.
Wilber says he is relieved the case is closed and that "I hope that Mark's spirit can find some peace and rest." Today marks the end of this case and I hope for this community and my office it's the beginning of some healing and closure."