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On Friday, an inmate managed to escape from the Troup County Jail. Timothy Lane Tranffansted managed to take advantage of a lock that malfunctioned, and he was gone for approximately two hours before anyone noticed, according to Sheriff James Woodruff and Sgt. Stewart Smith.

First off, things happen. Inmates are always looking for a way to take advantage of something, whether it’s human error or a faulty lock. Tranffansted apparently found a way, escaped and managed to make it all the way to Chambers County before the Valley Police Department arrested him.

His jail jumpsuit was found outside of the facility.

Tranffansted was not viewed as someone who was a danger to the public, but you never know what someone is going to do to get away from jail. Luckily, nothing happened. No one was hurt.

In August 2018, two inmates escaped from the jail through the ceiling. Woodruff, as he always is, was very transparent about that escape.

In fact, we had a photo on the front page of him pointing to the exact area where they escaped.

And four years later, another inmate found his way out of the jail.

We urge the Troup County Sheriff’s Office to tighten security more, going over procedures and double-checking locks — steps we’ve already been assured they are taking.

We’re not sure anyone officially tracks the average number of true jail escapes for each facility but having three inmates escape the jail in four years seems like a lot.