Oregon Prison Escape: How Did An Inmate Escape Deer Ridge Correctional Institution In Central Oregon For The First Time In Seven Years?

Oregon prison escape has kept people up on their feet ever since news of it broke out. One inmate from the 7-year-old Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Central Oregon has managed to escape, said state officials on Monday. According to the Associated Press, this is the first time an Oregon prison escape has happened.

State officials said Monday that for the first time in seven years, an Oregon prison escape happened in the 7-year-old Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Central Oregon. KTVZ reports that a search for the inmate in the nearby town Madras has already been conducted and the search has turned up no trace of the inmate.

Jim Adkins, Jefferson's county sheriff said that the inmate may have changed his prison clothes and left the area for his escape for the Oregon prison escape. Precautions were reportedly given at a nearby hospital and school as a stolen SUV was found not far from the prison.

Adkins told KTVZ-TV regarding the Oregon prison escape that "the trail is kind of petering out, a dead end." The inmate involved in the Oregon prison escape was identified as 31-year-old Clinton Orvill Swearingen II. He was reported missing Sunday night.

According to the Associated Press, Swearingen was serving time on theft and burglary convictions in Linn County. He went missing in between the afternoon and evening inmate counts. The evening counts are conducted around 10:30 p.m., said Spokeswoman Elizabeth Craig from the Department of Corrections. Craig confirmed that blood was found on a prison fence.

The prison where the Oregon prison escape occurred is four miles east of Madras. Deer Ridge Correctional Institution currently has a 774-bed minimum-security facility and a 1,228-bed medium-security facility. However, the medium-security facility has never held inmates.

Oregon prison escape this year was the first "true escape" from the prison, Craig adds. Last year, an inmate was able to walk away during an outside work detail. He reportedly cut vegetation to reduce fire risk in a forest, but he was caught and arrested in Beaverton three days later.