2:25 P.M. UPDATE:
State police officers apprehended an inmate in northeast Arkansas on Sunday afternoon, more than 17 hours after he walked away from his work-release job, an Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman said.
In an email, Solomon Graves said officers found Clenton Forrister, 32, sometime around 1:35 p.m. outside of Brooklyn, a town northeast of Jonesboro that's about an hour's drive from where Forrister escaped in Blytheville.
Forrister had walked away from his work-release job at Daddy Rabbit's Towing at about 8 p.m. Saturday, Graves said. He's currently serving a 20-year sentence on first-degree battery, drug and weapon charges.
Graves said more information on Forrister's capture would be released when it became available.
PREVIOUS:
Authorities are still looking for an Arkansas inmate who walked away from his Blytheville work-release site Saturday night.
As of 10:30 Sunday morning, officers hadn’t located 32-year-old Clenton Forrister, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said. Forrister abandoned his job at Daddy Rabbit’s Towing, located at 1100 Kari Lane, around 8 p.m.
“[We’re] still actively searching for him,” Graves said.
Prison records show that Forrister was sentenced to 20 years in May 2014 on first-degree battery, drug possession and firearm possession charges. Graves said that anyone who comes in contact with him should “approach [Forrister] with extreme caution” and contact police.
Department of Correction officers, state police and local authorities are assisting in the search, Graves said.
Forrister had been assigned to the Mississippi County Work Release Center, which Graves said is considered a minimum-security facility, in Luxora. Forrister, who lived in Scott, according to court records, was about 11 miles north at the towing company when he walked away.
Graves said Daddy Rabbit’s immediately reported Forrister’s departure and is cooperating fully with the search.
Forrister was arrested in September 2013, accused of shooting a 41-year-old man, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported. The newspaper reported that Forrister admitted his involvement when he was taken into custody.
When he was last seen, Forrister was wearing a blue shirt with green pants and white tennis shoes. He’s white, 5-foot-7 and weighs 151 pounds, according to his inmate profile. He has multiple tattoos on his neck and back.
Inmates have to meet eligibility criteria to enter the work-release program. Among other qualifications, they must be eligible for minimum-security status and cannot be convicted on any sex offenses or capital crimes, state regulations said.
The regulations, which went into effect in 2010, said the Board of Corrections’ Classification Committee must unanimously recommend inmates to their warden or supervisor before they can enter the program. The supervisors then have final approval.
The search for Forrister comes five months after convicted killer Lloyd Jones escaped a prison work detail in Lee County. He was captured three days later, Arkansas Online reported.