HoCo Detention Center Walk-Off Gets 3 Years for Escape: State's Attorney

Howard County, MD — An inmate who would have been eligible for release next month will instead be jailed for another three years because he tried to escape earlier this spring, according to the Howard County State's Attorney's Office.

Michael Anthony Phillips, 43, of the 300 block of Furrow Street in southwest Baltimore, pleaded guilty to first-degree escape Friday in Howard County Circuit Court. He had three years tacked onto his sentence as a result, officials reported.

Phillips had been serving a 17-month sentence at the Howard County Detention Center for felony theft between $1,000 and $10,000 for an offense that occurred in March 2015.

He was at his work-release job in Hanover on March 22, 2016, when he allegedly went into the bathroom and cut off his ankle bracelet, which was equipped with GPS tracking.

Then he walked from his job at Belair Produce in the 7200 block of Parkway Drive to a gas station, where he got a ride to his aunt's house in southwest Baltimore, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Tricia Cecil.

In the few days that he was out of jail, Phillips admitted he used heroin and cocaine, officials said.

During a March 25 traffic stop in Baltimore City in which he was a passenger, Phillips told the officer that he was wanted on an open warrant, and he was returned to jail, according to the state's attorney, who said he apologized in court this week.

For the escape, Phillips was given a flat three-year sentence by Howard County Circuit Court Judge Mary M. Kramer, who said: "You have hurt yourself."

Court records show that Phillips immediately filed an appeal to have his sentence reconsidered.

See Also:

• Inmate Found After Walking Away from Route 32 Road Crew
• Jessup Inmate Escapes from Jail
• Prisoner Scales Fence to Escape