The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is now providing information regarding an incident that occurred at the county’s Greensboro Detention Center on Thursday, August 14, involving 27-year-old Kurtis Darko Asante.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Asante had been arrested by the Greensboro Police Department around 3:50 p.m. that day on a second-degree trespassing charge and he was transported to the Guilford County Detention Center in Greensboro.

He was initially secured in a holding cell in the law enforcement area while waiting to be fingerprinted and processed.

At roughly 8 p.m., according to the department, Asante was taken from the holding cell for fingerprinting and was then seated in a secure area for new arrestees pending intake screening by a nurse. An hour or so later, around 9 p.m., he stood up, walked about 75 feet through the processing area, and entered the pat search room through an unsecured door.

Once inside, Asante pressed the intercom button at the door that leads back to the law enforcement area where his holding cell was located. Detention officers at the booking desk were alerted that he was in the pat search room – which is considered an unauthorized area.

Sheriff’s Office officials said Asante was unable to go any further.

The search room serves as a connecting space between the law enforcement area and the detention area – all arrestees move through this space before being assigned to a housing unit.

The Sheriff’s Office emphasized that Asante never left a secured perimeter of the detention center and didn’t exit the building.

Detention staff, including the on-shift Second Lieutenant, responded and escorted Asante back to his seat. He was then secured in a holding cell until being dressed out and moved to a housing unit.

Due to his actions, Asante was charged with misdemeanor escape from a county or city confinement facility.

He was later released on a $500 unsecured bond.

Sheriff’s Office officials said this week they were continuing to review Asante’s actions, including his decision to press the intercom button, and they will reevaluate whether to pursue the escape charge further.

The explanation from the Sheriff’s Office comes more than a week after the incident and, since the inmate never left the building, it’s not as disturbing as what happened last fall when it comes to inmate escapes.

The reason the Sheriff’s Office put out the clarification on this event more than a week after it happened is likely that word was getting out about the “escape” from the jail.  A few days before the Sunday, August 24 release from the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, News 2 ran a brief story about an inmate escape from the jail; and the Rhino Times was also looking into the event after being tipped off by several sources.

In September of 2024, the Sheriff’s Office did not notify the public after the escape of a 32-year-old male inmate charged with a violent crime, and, at that time, when asked directly by WXII News if an inmate had escaped, told the station’s reporters, “An inmate did not escape from either one of our detention centers.”

In a story that aired on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, WXII stated, “WXII’s 12 investigates repeatedly reached out to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Thursday after a tip came into our newsroom about an inmate escaping [from] the jail in Greensboro.”

WXII stated at that time that the Sheriff’s Office “repeatedly denied” that an inmate had escaped.

After that event last fall, several solid sources also contacted the Rhino Times saying that an escape from the jail in Greensboro had occurred and that they were 100 percent certain that the story was true.  They also provided the inmate’s name, charges, method of escape and other details that sounded extremely convincing. So, it was a baffling few days for the Rhino Times and other news outlets because, while the Sheriff’s Office was flat out denying that an inmate had escaped, there was overwhelming and mounting evidence that in fact an inmate had done so.

Once the escapee had been caught and the Sheriff’s Office knew that the story would come out, the Sheriff’s Office finally called a news conference to inform the public.

One amazed law enforcement officer pointed out to the Rhino Times later, “This escapee was dangerous.  He was charged with a violent crime – assault on a female.”

  However, he escaped from the jail on a Monday and the public wasn’t informed until that Friday.

In response to the 2024 incident in which the department clearly misled the public, the Sheriff’s Office offered the following response: “This was an active investigation. There are times when releasing information might compromise an investigation and apprehension.”

That statement doesn’t seem to make much sense because there is no clarity on how informing the public that a man charged with a violent crime had escaped would hinder his apprehension. It would certainly help rather than hinder his capture.

A more likely explanation is that the Sheriff’s Office didn’t want that embarrassing information getting out to the public until it had no choice but to admit the screw up.

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