After the July 11 escape attempt from the Chautauqua County Jail, we opined that the county should figure out how an inmate came so close to escaping from the Mayville facility.

Kudos to Sheriff Jim Quattrone for doing just that. Members of the Chautauqua County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee recently met in executive session with Quattrone to discuss what has been learned from a review of the incident. While much of that discussion is eligible for executive session discussion, the fact that such a review and follow-up discussion happened.

It would have been easy for county officials to do nothing. After all, the inmate was caught within minutes because deputies formed a solid perimeter around the jail. Procedure was followed and the inmate was never a threat to the public. And, frankly, because the review was discussed in executive session it would have been easy for the public to have no idea that county officials had the review. In both instances county officials have done the right thing.

Having outside eyes take a fresh look at the county jail isn’t a bad thing, while the fact that an escape attempt happened is worth the county’s law enforcement team taking a hard look at jail security to make sure nothing has been missed. Equally important is the acknowledgement that the review happened and that at least one security flaw has been quickly corrected. Quattrone told The Post-Journal and OBSERVER that an area of razor wire had not been properly anchored. That weakness has been found and fixed.

The review was important. The security of the Chautauqua County Jail is important for both the residents of Mayville and county residents as a whole. Our county lived through the Ralph Phillips escape and ensuing manhunt. And more recently we dealt with the aftermath of the Michael Burham escape from the Warren County Jail last year. If there is a county that knows the importance of a secure jail, it is Chautauqua County.