Escaped inmates captured

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
The Wyoming Department of Corrections has confirmed that both of the two inmates who escaped from the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp on Sept. 22 have been apprehended. 
A press release dated Sept. 30 indicated that escaped inmate Jason Green was apprehended in Mesquite, Texas. 
“According to a public safety announcement on the Mesquite Police Department’s Facebook page, police responded to a suspicious person call in the early morning hours of Sunday, Sept. 29,” the release states. “Police observed two individuals running from the location on foot. Green was captured but the other individual (believed to be Simpson) got away.” 
Escaped inmate Robert Simpson remained at large until Tuesday, when he was apprehended in Dallas, Texas, according to the DOC. No other details were available at press time about Simpson’s capture other than that Texas law-enforcement officials had confirmed his capture.
Simpson and Green escaped from the minimum-security camp on the evening of Sept. 22, taking with them a dog named Shadow. The whereabouts of the black Lab-mix that was stolen from the camp’s Project LOVED canine program remains unknown.
The Sept. 22 escape is the second this year from the camp, located north of Newcastle. This latest escape was longer lived than the June 24 escape of James Michael Kennah, age 42, who was gone for a few hours before being apprehended near Wright. 
According to WHCC Warden Todd Martin, the inmates initially headed west on foot after leaving the facility. Authorities believe the two men stole a City of Newcastle truck in Newcastle and drove to Laramie that night. Their inmate uniforms were also found in the vicinity of the stolen truck. 
The tan 2002 Ford F-150 extended cab belonging to the city was abandoned at a roofing company in Cheyenne, and the pair is believed to have stolen a black Subaru near the location. 
After the escape, Martin said, the Wyoming Department of Corrections coordinated with law enforcement in other states where the inmates had known contacts and that all of their known family members had been made aware of the escape. The department will conduct a full investigation into the escape, including security staffing, security practices and notification practices. 
Media outlets across the state and in neighboring states were informed of the escape and received inmate descriptions, according to Martin. 
Prior to their escape, Green was serving a three- to eight-year sentence for larceny and Simpson was serving a five- to 15-year sentence for aggravated burglary with a weapon.
It’s not certain at this time when Simpson and Green will be returned to Wyoming and what additional charges they will face, according to the Oct. 1 release from DOC.