Tip leads deputies to female inmate who escaped custody at a Northern California hospital
A Northern California inmate who escaped from custody after completing her treatment at a hospital was found Wednesday, and a man suspected of harboring her has been arrested.
The female inmate, described by the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office as a non-violent offender, slipped past deputies after Colusa Regional Hospital medical staff deemed her healthy enough to return to jail. She walked out of the hospital Monday while sheriff’s deputies went to retrieve her.
The hospital is 55 miles northwest of Sacramento in the town of Colusa, population 6,400. Glenn County borders Colusa County to the north; its jail is in Willows, about 30 miles away.
“Due to critically low staffing levels at the Glenn County Jail and (the) Sheriff’s Office, staff were unavailable to standby with (the inmate) while she was convalescing,” the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The Sheriff’s Office got an anonymous tip Tuesday about 8:30 p.m. that the woman was hiding in a Glenn County residence on the 300 block of County Road D, halfway between the jail and the hospital.
The woman was taken into custody without incident and returned to Glenn County Jail. She had originally been booked on suspicion of violating her parole, misdemeanor drug charges and failing to appear for a charge of possessing stolen property, the Sheriff’s Office said. More charges were expected to be filed in connection with the escape.
The Sheriff’s Office also said a man at the home was arrested, though details of his detainment were not disclosed.
