N.D. penitentiary looks into apparent escape

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota State Penitentiary inmate might have escaped and returned.

Police Sgt. Mark Buschena (boo-SHEE’-nuh) says employees at Cashman Nursery near the prison grounds reported seeing a car pull into their driveway on Monday and Tuesday, and a man would get in or out of the vehicle. Buschena says on Tuesday, employees also witnessed the man jump the fence into the prison.

Dispatchers contacted the prison, and guards and an officer located the man. Buschena says the man was identified as an inmate working in the prison's sheep barn. He did not have the inmate's name because the investigation had been turned over to prison officials.

State Corrections spokesman Tim Tausend says the incident is under investigation and details won't be released until the probe is complete. He says there was no imminent danger to the community.

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