Minnesota Prison Break: Final Inmate Arrested

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m – Minneapolis police say inmate James Mitchell has been arrested on Interstate 35W after being spotted in a Minneapolis Park.

UPDATE, 2:15 p.m. — ‪Minneapolis police say the search of the area for the escaped inmate has been cleared. Authorities say there is "no credible info that the suspect is still in the area." Minneapolis police and Minnesota Department of Correction officers continue to search and follow up on leads.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Following ‪the report of an escaped prison inmate, Minneapolis police are asking residents in the area of Penn Avenue to Thomas Avenue and Dowling Avenue to 42nd Street to stay in their homes and call 911 to report suspicious activity. Police are searching for the inmate in that location. The inmate, James Douglas Mitchell, 26, is described as a Puerto Rican male, 5 feet 10 inches, 195 pounds, last seen wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt and white tennis shoes.

Authorities say he escaped from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes Friday morning. Gordy Hughes, the dispatch supervisor for Anoka County, told the Star Tribune that the inmate jumped a fence at the facility, stole a white van with other prisoners in it and escaped just before 11 a.m.

Nine prisoners have since been taken into custody. Five were arrested at gunpoint. Police continue to search for Mitchell in Minneapolis.

Fugitive info

• James Douglas Mitchell
• Birth Date: Jan. 12, 1991
• Current Status: Wanted Fugitive as of May 26
• Sentence Date: Dec. 18, 2014
• Highest Ranked Offense: Assault

MCF-Lino Lakes consists of medium-security and a minimum-security unit located outside the perimeter with a population of 1,300 adult males. Lino Lakes is also the site of the department's Sex Offender Treatment Program, which can house 270 offenders.

The facility opened in 1963 and originally served as a juvenile facility. In 1978, the institution was remodeled and converted to an adult facility.

Image via Minnesota Department of Corrections