News
Escapee nabbed after lockdown at Coalgate schools
Wednesday, April 24th 2019, 10:41 AM CDT
Updated:
Kenneth Laws escaped from a state prison in McAlester on April 24, 2019. (Oklahoma DOC)
COALGATE, Okla. -- A state prison inmate is back in custody after triggering a lockdown at Coalgate Public Schools Wednesday morning.
The Coal County Sheriff's Office said the schools were alerted because the inmate's wife lives in the area.
The escapee was identified as Kenneth A. Laws, who was serving a five-year term for eluding a police officer in Atoka County.
Laws was reported missing from the minimum-security Jackie Brannon Correctional Center in McAlester around 3 a.m. Wednesday.
He was nabbed in Stuart, about 20 miles east of McAlester, on Wednesday afternoon. The Department of Corrections said he may have stolen a truck to get there.
Laws now faces additional charges and a move to a higher-security prison facility.