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Inmate who escaped from city "workhouse" back in custody

St. Louis Police are looking for Allen Brown, Jr., 29, after he was found missing from the Medium Security Institution, or "the workhouse" in St. Louis.
St. Louis Police are looking for Allen Brown, Jr., 29, after he was found missing from the Medium Security Institution, or "the workhouse" in St. Louis.

Updated: St. Louis police took Brown into custody without incident around 7:30 pm Thursday in the 4100 block of Enright.

Our earlier story:

St. Louis Police are searching for a 29-year-old man missing from the Medium Security Institution, also known as “the workhouse.”

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, jail officials did a count of prisoners participating in an education program some time between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday night. During that count, they noticed that Allen Brown Jr. was missing. Police received a call of a suspicious person in the 7600 block of Hall Street, near the jail, around 9 p.m. Responding officers found clothing that appeared to be from MSI.

Additional information from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Dept.:

  • Allen Brown Jr, 29 years old
  • Last given address was 1000 block of Rue De La Banque, 63136
  • In custody since 11/19/10
  • Being held in the MSI on 1 count of Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, 1 count of Unlawful Use of Drug Paraphernalia
  • Bond was set at $100,000, 10 percent of which was cash-only

Newspaper reports say Brown took a restroom break from an educational program that meets in an annex of the MSI.  Sam Dotson, the city's new operations manager, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Brown walked through an unlocked gate then scaled two fences to escape. Two corrections officers are on forced leave for failing to secure the gate. Dotson says the city is investigating whether it was deliberate.

Rachel is the justice correspondent at St. Louis Public Radio.