Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell was sworn in Tuesday night, and we hope one very important piece of business is top on his to-do-list this morning.

It’s time, once again, to revisit the policies governing inmate trusties who are allowed to work throughout the parish.

Maxwell governs several different programs including work release inmates and those who are constantly supervised by deputies.

Both categories have seen escapes in recent months.

The latest escape occurred Monday when Damon Henderson — in jail for theft — turned up missing from the Concordia Parish Correctional Facility’s auto shop.

Fortunately, most of the time the escapees are non-violent offenders, who cause little damage in the outside world. But that doesn’t make the situation better.

It’s frightening to residents when inmates escape from jail. When it happens time after time from the same agency, it’s a problem.

After an escape in 1999 Maxwell was quoted as saying, “We’ll do everything we can to keep an escape from happening.”

We hope those words turn into action soon before another inmate slips away and before someone gets hurt.