Just a stone's throw from the confines of Clemens Unit trusty camp, escaped inmate Kidanny Robles was recaptured in Brazoria County. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), following a midnight break on Sunday, Robles was apprehended nearly three miles from the jail by 10:03 a.m. The TDCJ made it clear that Robles attempted to continue to run, defying demands to halt, before a captain was forced to discharge their firearm, striking Robles in the arm, as reported by ABC 13.
Robles' dash for liberty concluded with him now facing additional felony escape charges on top of his 20-year sentence for aggravated robbery and burglary. He had previously been eligible for parole in 2022 but had instead found his projected release dateline stretched to 2031. In a series of events that has been repeating too often, TDCJ visitations were canceled due to the massive manhunt that ensued. This marked the fifth escape incident within the past year that Click2Houston has covered, indicating a worrying trend in inmate elopements from the TDCJ system.
The Clemens Unit trusty camp, where Robles was initially held, is essentially a lower-security housing alternative meant for those inmates requiring minimal oversight. The authorities reported that Robles simply walked away from the facility. Citing TDCJ's account, Robles had returned to their custody after a parole violation in 2023 and was serving time for a litany of convictions including a 180-day sentence for possession of a controlled substance from Nueces County in 2021.
Unfortunately, Robles's story is not the lone account of escapees from Clemens Unit. Earlier last year, 20-year-old Cadarion Avery and 39-year-old Robert Yancy Jr. had taken their turns to slip away, with Yancy masterminding his exit with an ex-correctional officer's – who was also his mother – assistance. Her complicity was to go so far as to disguise him in her clothing and use her old work badge to bypass security, a grave breach of the prison's trust. They were captured 40 miles from the prison, a tale that was noted in the report by ABC 13.
