HE ONLY WENT OUT TO PICK UP SOME BBQ AND BOOZE FOR HIS FELLOW INMATES

Escapee nabbed trying to return to federal prison with BBQ and booze

By Monique Batson

Beaumont Enterprise
January 25, 2018

BEAUMONT, Texas -- A Beaumont federal prison inmate nabbed this week in a pasture with a duffle bag filled with chicken sausage, salty snacks and bottles of brandy is looking at extra time behind bars after being charged with escape.

Joshua Hansen, 25, of Dallas was captured Wednesday night by Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies and U.S. Marshals, according to sheriff's department spokeswoman Crystal Holmes.

Hansen, who is incarcerated in Beaumont on narcotics charges, was caught in a joint surveillance effort, Holmes said in a statement.

Non-violent offenders and inmates on work release have walked off from the federal facility "pretty much since Day 1" to get contraband items to bring back in the prison, Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Marcus McLellan said.

The sheriff's office is working with other agencies, including the U.S. Marshals office, to put a stop to it, McLellan said.

A vehicle was spotted sometime after 5:45 p.m. Wednesday driving on private property adjacent to the prison, Holmes said. Someone inside the vehicle dropped a large, black duffle bag and drove off.

Hansen was seen around 7:30 p.m. running across the property and retrieving the bag, which contained home-cooked foods, fruit, packaged snacks, bottles of alcohol and multiple bags of Bugler tobacco, according to Holmes.

Hansen attempted to run back into the prison, but was caught by deputies and arrested, she said.

He was booked at the Jefferson County jail on charges of escape and possession of marijuana, Holmes said. A federal hold was also placed on Hansen, she said.