Cicero A. Estrella
Copyright 2006 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
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THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
A minimum security inmate escaped from San Quentin State Prison on Thursday but was apprehended 12 miles north in Novato a few hours later, according to a prison spokesman.
Demetrius Jefferson, 20, was discovered missing during the routine 4 p.m. head count, said Sgt. Eric Messick.
Prison officials alerted other agencies and searched the outlying areas around the prison. Messick said the Novato Police Department arrested Jefferson at about 7:45 p.m. He later was returned to San Quentin, where he is being held in the maximum security adjustment center.
“His taste of freedom was short-lived,” Messick said.
Jefferson is believed to have walked away from the minimum security area, where he was reassigned earlier this week, said Messick. He was serving a sentence of three years and eight months for grand theft auto and grand theft on a person and was scheduled to be released on June 28.
Messick said the 445 minimum-security inmates live in an area not enclosed by walls or double-perimeter fences but are closely monitored by prison officials. He said a similar escape occurred about a year ago.
January 20, 2006