Authorities search for escaped federal inmate in Tennessee

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A federal inmate imprisoned on drug charges has escaped from a minimum security facility in Tennessee, authorities said Tuesday.

Cecil Corey Haggins was discovered missing from Federal Correctional Institution Memphis’ satellite camp in Millington on Monday night, the Bureau of Prisons said in a news release. The FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies were informed of the escape, the bureau said.

Millington is located just north of Memphis. The satellite camp is a minimum security facility and currently houses 84 male offenders, the bureau said.

Haggins has been sentenced 10 years in federal prison for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

Over the past 18 months, at least 29 prisoners have escaped from federal lockups across the U.S., and nearly half still have not been caught, The Associated Press reported last week. At some of the institutions, doors are left unlocked, security cameras are broken and officials sometimes don’t notice an inmate is missing for hours.

The details of Haggins’ escape have not been released by the bureau.

Prisoners have broken out at lockups in nearly every region of the country. Their crimes include racketeering, wire fraud, bank robbery, possession of methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and other drugs.

Twelve of the inmates who escaped in 2020 — from prisons in Florida, California, Louisiana, Texas and Colorado — remain at large. Haggins and two others who escaped since January this year have also not yet been caught.

All of the escapes happened at minimum-security federal prison facilities and house inmates the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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