An inmate who walked away from a Shasta County work camp has been captured in Downtown Redding. State prison inmates rarely choose to escape from the Sugar Pine Conservation Camp off Highway 299 east of Bella Vista, even though the facility has no fences. The camp’s firefighting handcrews are an essential resource for fighting wildfires. 31-year-old Joseph Stewart was discovered missing during a headcount at 7:30PM Monday evening. The Sacramento man was serving a 10 year sentence for a Marin County robbery. On Tuesday morning a Department of Corrections Officer spotted Stewart at the Downtown Redding RABA Station and he took off running. He was chased to the park behind the Lorenz Hotel Building, where he climbed onto the roof of Final Draft Brewery. Redding Police, CHP and CDC Officers swarmed the area as a CHP helicopter made PA announcements telling Stewart to surrender. After about 20 minutes of negotiations, he surrendered. He’ll be sent to a more high security prison as escape makes him ineligible to return to the Sugar Pine Camp.
-Steve Gibson