A maximum-security inmate is back in police custody after he escaped last month while officials took him from Tennessee to San Diego, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
On Sept. 2, a private inmate transportation service was driving Joshua Drinnon back to a San Diego prison after a Tennessee court appearance.
But at a rest stop on Interstate 80 in Illinois, Drinnon maneuvered out of his restraints, scaled a fence and ran off into a cornfield.
Illinois authorities searched for him, but after no new leads came in a couple of days, they suspended the manhunt.
Instead, a task force between the U.S. Marshals and CDCR took up the search, which led them to Oregon.
Officials located and arrested Drinnon Monday at a resource center for people in need in Ashland, a city in Jackson County.
Ashland Police took the inmate to a local detention facility, where he is awaiting extradition to San Diego.
Before his escape, Drinnon was serving a 17-year sentence for robbery — his second strike. He was scheduled to be released on parole in May 2025, after which he would have been taken to Tennessee to serve another six-year sentence for aggravated robbery.
“We can credit the diligence of our agents and our partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service for locating a dangerous offender and taking him off the streets,” CDCR Office of Correctional Safety Chief Derrick Marion said in a statement.
