Escape exhaustion
Man ‘tired of running’ returns to custody a year after honor camp escape
Mary Stroka
NLJ Reporter
A year after escaping from Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp, John Eric Handy said he was “tired of running.”
Lawrence County (South Dakota) Chief Deputy Tavis Little told the News Letter Journal in an email on Sept. 12 that deputies found Handy, who had escaped from the camp in June 2023, on July 11, 2024, on a recreational trailhead south of Lead, South Dakota. A caller had requested a welfare check on a man “who may need medical attention.”
“When Deputies arrived they contacted the male subject who did not identify himself,” Little said. Handy eventually relented, however.
“The subject told a Deputy that he was tired of running and that he had escaped from the custody of the Wyoming Department of Corrections a year prior. The subject identified himself as John Eric Handy and provided the Deputy with his date of birth,” Little reported.
According to the deputy, Handy was arrested as a fugitive from justice in South Dakota and taken to the Lawrence County jail. On Aug. 16, Handy was extradited from South Dakota to the Weston County Sheriff’s Office, and his fugitive from justice charges in South Dakota were subsequently dismissed.
In its Sept. 6 response to a Freedom of Information Act request the NLJ filed on Aug. 23, the Wyoming Department of Corrections said the capture occurred “in the afternoon or early evening” on July 11.
The WDOC issued a news release on June 6, 2023, that said the WHCC work detail supervisor realized at about 2:30 p.m. the previous day that Handy “was not where he was required to be” and an effort to locate him was unsuccessful. The department reported that on the morning of June 5, three forestry work details had left WHCC to work on a site east of the facility. Two had 10 inmates and a supervisor apiece, and the third had five inmates and a supervisor. At about 3 p.m., the work detail supervisor reported to the WHCC that Handy wasn’t with his assigned work details “at which point escape procedures were initiated.” Local law enforcement, WDOC staff and tracking teams began a multi-agency effort to find Handy.
“In accordance with policy and procedure the WDOC immediately notified local law enforcement of the potential escape,” the department said in its Sept. 6 response to the NLJ’s FOIA request.
As the NLJ reported in 2023, Paul Martin, administrator of support services for the WDOC, said inmate forestry crews had been canceled because of Handy’s escape. The camp has resumed forestry activities for inmates, the department said in its Sept. 6 response, but refused to provide any additional information about the escape or capture.
“Once law enforcement is notified and it is determined an inmate has escaped, jurisdiction is transferred to the local law enforcement agency. Questions on details regarding the search should be directed to Weston County Sheriff’s Office,” the department said in its response to the NLJ’s information request.
Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard said on Sept. 12 that Handy is currently in the Weston County jail and awaiting hearings on the charge of escape from official detention.
The WDOC said in response to the NLJ’s question regarding whether the state or Weston County would file additional charges against Hardy that it “cannot comment on details surrounding an open investigation or pending legal matters.”
The department also noted that it conducts “a thorough review” of policies, procedures and practices to follow policy and procedure after “serious and significant incidents” and makes changes and updates “if deemed appropriate,” but it does not comment on security protocols designed to mitigate escape potential.
“This information is safety and security sensitive and release of such information could pose a threat to the public, facilities, WDOC staff, and inmates,” the department said.
Handy was serving a five-to-seven-year sentence out of Sublette County for unlawful manufacture or delivery of a schedule I, II or III substance, marijuana.