The Arkansas State Police are conducting a criminal investigation into a short-lived escape of five inmates Sunday at the Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center.
The division of community correction center is also conducting an internal investigation, said Dina Tyler, director of communications for Arkansas Department of Corrections.
The residents are believed to have started a small trash fire in the food services area about 5 p.m. Sunday, which set off the fire alarm. During the alarm response, the inmates kicked out the plexiglass on the back door to the kitchen area. They left through the door. By 5:15 p.m., three inmates were back in custody. The remaining two residents were captured about 10 minutes later. No residents had gotten further than two blocks from the facility, Tyler said.
The residents have been identified as Michael Scott Batchelor, 49, Harley Lee Tuell, 24, Brandon Lee Joseph, 26, Ryan Allen Cox, 19, and Wesley Miller, 19.
They will all be transferred to housing in a more secure facility, Tyler said.
All residents of community correction centers have been convicted of crimes that are nonviolent and nonsexual. They all serve sentences of six years or less.
All five of the suspects who escaped were serving sentences for drug possession, theft, or burglary, according to Tyler.