Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Public Safety

Donovan Prison Escapee Found In Oregon

A maximum-security prison inmate who escaped in the Midwest last month while in transit to a San Diego-area state prison was captured Monday in the Pacific Northwest, authorities reported.

Agents with the U.S. Marshals Service and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation tracked down Joshua Drinnon, 36, at a homeless shelter in Ashland, Oregon, and took him into custody without incident, according to CDCR public affairs.

Drinnon escaped Sept. 2 while being transported back to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, where he is housed. He had been taken to Tennessee for a court appearance.

Advertisement

At a rest stop on Interstate 80, about five miles outside Princeton, Illinois, Drinnon was able to get out of his restraints, elude the transporting officers, scale a fence and run off into a cornfield.

Drinnon was sentenced in December 2012 to a 17-year prison term for a robbery committed in San Luis Obispo County. Prior to his escape, he had been scheduled to be released on parole in 2025.

KPBS has created a public safety coverage policy to guide decisions on what stories we prioritize, as well as whose narratives we need to include to tell complete stories that best serve our audiences. This policy was shaped through months of training with the Poynter Institute and feedback from the community. You can read the full policy here.