Kirkland escaped from MCI-Shirley roughly 30 hours after his mother was shot in Springfield's North End. Officials believe he escaped to seek revenge.
Tamik KirklandSPRINGFIELD - Department of Corrections officials did not learn that Tamik Kirkland’s mother had been shot in Springfield until days after the 24-year old city resident had already escaped from the state minimum-security prison in Shirley, a DOC spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Diane Wiffin said if prison security had been told by either Springfield police or by Kirkland’s family that his mother had been shot April 23 on Ringgold Street, prison staff could have increased security and prevented his escape some 30 hours later.
Kirkland was discovered missing at about 7:30 a.m. April 25.
Six days later, he was accused of killing one man and critically injuring another at a State Street barbershop, and then getting in a shootout with police moments later at Cambridge and Burr Streets. Officials have said the indications are Kirkland, who has ties to the Maynard Street Posse street gang, escaped to seek revenge for the shooting of his mother.
Two officers were shot but escaped serious injury due to their protective vests. Kirkland was shot multiple times and seriously injured. He is in stable condition at Baystate Medical Center where he is under heavy guard, officials said.
Wiffin said she is not faulting Springfield police for not notifying them prior to the escape.
“Absolutely not,” she said.
Typically DOC staff will hear about family emergencies affecting an inmate from the inmate’s relatives, not from the police, she said.
In this case, none of Kirkland’s relatives alerted prison staff, she said. If they had been notified, the prison staff could have put Kirkland under a close watch.
Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said Springfield police did not contact DOC because they did not make an immediate connection that one of the women shot was related to Kirkland.
Police have not disclosed the woman’s identity, but Delaney said she had a different last name from Kirkland.
“She did not have a sign around her neck that said Tamik Kirkland is my son,” he said.
If police had made the connection, it is difficult to say if they would have contacted DOC, he said. Police encounter a lot of people each day who have incarcerated relatives, he said.
Detectives will alert the DOC if they feel the inmate could become suicidal or be at risk from the prison population, he said.
The responsibility for keeping inmates from escaping rests solely with the corrections staff, Delaney said.
Wiffin said DOC officials are reviewing security procedures following Kirkland’s escape. The preliminary investigation shows he made a dummy that he put in his bed to evade a head count, and then managed to walk out of the facility.
One staff member has been suspended with pay so far, she said.
Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni said Kirkland’s medical condition is putting on hold his legal status.
He is due to be arraigned in district court on a murder charge, three counts of attempted murder, and a slew of other armed assault and weapons charges, but Mastroianni said the arraignment date is still “very much up in the air.”
He said Kirkland needs to recover his health to the degree it will satisfy legal standards for a defendant to be aware of court proceedings.