AMITE - The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office is getting ready for a leadership transition amid ongoing challenges, including a multi-state murder investigation and a search for an escaped inmate.

Sheriff Elect Gerald Sticker was sworn in Saturday morning. Tangipahoa Parish residents still have worries about recent escapes from the parish jail and are looking to their new leader to fix the issue.

"There are a lot of improvements that have been made to the jail already, as we all know with the escapes, and there's still one out. But we're working to remedy the problem early this week," Sheriff Sticker said.

Next week, Sticker says they'll be having a walk through with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections to make a list what needs to be done to the facility.

In May, four inmates escaped through a corroded fence and went unnoticed until a community member tipped the jail off. 

“This didn't just happen overnight and it's not going to get fixed overnight," Sticker said. "There's a lot of things we're doing right in there, but just some things we need to fix so the parish government, and us at the sheriffs office are going to walk through there with DOC and get our jail as secured as it can possibly be."

Three of the inmates were found and taken back into custody while 20-year-old Jamarcus Cyprian is still on the run. The department blamed lack of correctional supervision and proper headcounts as some of the ways this could have occurred. Another was the weakened infrastructure.

"They have repaired the fence, they have made those initial repairs. As we speak, Tangipahoa Parish government is driving back from Houston, Texas, with a truck load of razor wire to further reinforce the repairs," Sticker said.

WBRZ asked Sheriff Sticker about the high-profile case involving Daniel Callihan, a man accused of murdering a woman and kidnapping her two daughters before killing one of them in Mississippi. Sticker said he could not discuss details of the case but did have a comment on Callihan’s future.

"Mr. Callihan has been brought back to Louisiana and is being incarcerated in another parish, I'll stand with DA Scott Perrilloux. I want him tried here in the courthouse where we stand, and I want him to get the death penalty, period."

Sheriff Gerald Sticker is the first new sheriff in the parish in 20 years, and his term start date is scheduled for July 1.