FORKS — An inmate who escaped Thursday from a minimum-security state prison south of Forks has been captured, according to a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman.
A team of corrections officers found and arrested Aaron Richard Brown III, 37, at about 9:30 a.m. today (Friday) in a wooded area about 10 miles north of the Olympic Corrections Center, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Norah West said.
Brown, of Snohomish County, reportedly slipped away from custody after he was last seen at the Olympic Corrections Center’s dining hall at about 4:35 p.m. Thursday, West said.
Brown had arrived at Olympic Corrections Center on Wednesday from the state prison in Shelton. He had been incarcerated at Shelton since June 27, when he began a 27-month sentence for drug possession.
A team of corrections officers specially trained in finding escaped inmates found Brown in a wooded area about 10 miles north of the Olympic Corrections Center, near the boundary of Olympic National Forest, West said.
Brown is now in segregation at the corrections center and will be interviewed by corrections staff, West said.
How he escaped is still under investigation, West added.
The state Department of Corrections was the lead agency on the search, with assistance from Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol and the Hoh Tribal Police.
Olympic Corrections Center is located about 27 miles from Forks. It opened in 1968 and can house up to 381 prisoners.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
