An inmate who escaped from a Texas federal prison was caught trying to sneak booze, tobacco, and homemade food back into the jail Wednesday night after picking up the items from a neighbor’s property.
Joshua Hansen, 25, was caught after police were tipped off that prisoners were leaving the grounds and ending up on a rancher’s land that borders the prison complex, CNN reported. Hansen is serving 27 months for drug charges and now faces additional charges of escape and possession of marijuana.
A vehicle dropped off a duffel bag on the rancher’s property around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, the Beaumont Enterprise reported, and Hansen retrieved it around 7:30 p.m.
The bag was found to have homemade chicken sausage and barbecued chicken, prepackaged snacks, bottles of brandy and whiskey, and dozens of packages of tobacco, CNN reported.
The prison houses both maximum security and minimum security inmates, the Dallas News reported. Some of the inmates are on work release.
The sheriff’s office and U.S. Marshal’s office worked together on the sting that resulted in Hansen’s capture, the Beaumont Enterprise reported. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Marcus McLellan told the Beaumont Enterprise that several nonviolent offenders and work release inmates have been walking off the prison’s grounds on a regular basis to retrieve contraband items.
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