CLEARWATER — Corrections and other law enforcement officers were searching Sunday for a prisoner who escaped from Olympic Corrections Center the night before.
Darby R. Maguire, 27, doing time in the minimum-security prison camp for assault and robbery, disappeared Saturday evening from the prison in West Jefferson County about 25 miles south of Forks.
Maguire’s disappearance was discovered at about 8:20 p.m., when he missed check-in after a recreation period, said Chad Lewis, state Department of Corrections spokesman.
Maguire is 6 feet tall, with brown eyes and short brown hair, Lewis said.
When last seen, he was wearing the prison uniform of a red shirt and khaki pants.
Maguire is serving a 4½-year sentence after being convicted of three counts of third-degree assault and one count of second-degree robbery in Whatcom County.
He began his sentence in January 2010 and was scheduled to be released in July 2014.
Lewis did not release any information on where authorities believe Maguire may be now, or where they think he might be heading.
Anyone who encounters Maguire or has information on his whereabouts should call 9-1-1 immediately, Lewis said.
Citizens should not try to take any other action to apprehend him, Lewis added.
Prison officials Saturday night put Olympic on lockdown and initiated a response team once they realized that Maguire was unaccounted for, he said.
The search team includes staff members from Olympic Corrections Center, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Patrol and Stafford Creek Corrections Center, a medium-security prison located near Aberdeen.
The prison staff is investigating how Maguire escaped.
Olympic Corrections Center houses about 375 offenders.
Maguire’s escape is the second at Olympic in fewer than two months.
On June 15, James Edward Russell, 39, escaped from Olympic, but was arrested in the woods near the Hoh River Resort about 14 miles away
En route, Russell knocked on the door of a cabin, which was answered by an off-duty corrections officer who recognized and tackled the escapee.
Russell escaped and fled, but corrections officers were able to track and arrest him a few hours later.
On June 29 at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, a high-security prison 50 miles north of Olympic Corrections Center, a prisoner was killed as he tried to break out using a hijacked forklift.
Kevin Newland, 25, was shot to death by a corrections officer when he drove the forklift through the doors of the work area and into the perimeter fences.
Newland was serving a 45-year sentence for first-degree murder in Spokane County.
During the attempt, an accomplice, Dominick Maldonado, 25, took a corrections officer hostage in the industries area of the prison by using a pair of scissors.
Maldonado, who surrendered, was serving a 163-year sentence for numerous charges related to a shooting spree and hostage-taking at Tacoma Mall in 2005.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
