Escapee found hiding in small room 75 miles away from county jail

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    POPE, Miss. (WAPT) — An escape was short-lived for a state inmate who was found hiding in a small room in a building about 75 miles away from the county jail, Mississippi prison officials said.

Richard Willis, 34, escaped from the Union County Jail in New Albany late Friday night. He was captured Monday night in Pope, in Panola County, officials with the Mississippi Department of Corrections said. Willis was returned to prison early Tuesday morning.

“If one of our inmates escapes, we will work with all law enforcement and won’t stop until he is caught,” Commissioner Burl Cain said. “Hopefully, this inmate now has gotten that message.”

Cain said he appreciates the work of all the agencies involved in the search and capture of Willis, including members of the MDOC’s Special Response Team and Corrections Investigation Division linked with the U.S. Marshals Service, the Panola County Sheriff’s Office, and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Willis is back at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. He was moved from the Rankin County prison earlier this year to the Union County Jail to participate in the State/County Work Program, MDOC said.

He is facing several charges that, upon conviction, likely will add more time to his current eight years for residential burglary in Tallahatchie County. He also received five years’ probation for possession of methamphetamine in Yalobusha County to run concurrently with the burglary conviction.

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